Voltron: Remember Me
by Mariska15
Summary: We begin in episode 3 of Season 2, Shiro's escape. What if Ulaz wasn't the only person that snuck on board of the ship? Ulaz was just the only one that the tower saw as a threat. This other person hides in the shadow until they are ready to reveal themselves to Voltron, and somehow they hide within the lions. Allura and Coren might even know who they are, but they should be dead.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I published this already, but it did something really weird. I am very sorry for that. I just finished this series and wanted to write a fanfiction about it. I am in College and taking really hard classes so updates will not be frequent or often. I am sorry about that, but I wanted to give you all a heads up. Please Comment and Review!**

She waits for so long on these xanthorium chucks that lay dormant in the sky around The Blades of Marmora's base that hides within a space fold. She can sense them coming, and she knows that it's soon.

"Come on lions..." She whispers very slowly before the Castle of Lions appear before her. "Finally."

She gets up as she jumps from the chucks very carefully so she doesn't cause them to explode as she watches another person that she knows is Galra head towards the Castle. She smirks at his stupidest idea, but she is going to use him as her decoy in getting in. He slips in which causes the alarms to go off just like she knew they would. She darts through as she sneaks towards the lions.

She closes her eyes as she listens to them as they lead her right to them. She has to find them. She misses them so much that she wants to see them once again. She finally opens the doors without any alarms going off because she is the one that helped build this castle. She knows every hide out and security camera there is on this ship.

"Roar!" The lions roar together as she runs to them with tears in her eyes.

"You guys are alright!" She screams with happiness as she stands in between all five of these great magnificent beasts. "I knew that I would be able to find you."

They all lay there heads on the ground for her to pilot one of them, but she shakes her head like she did so long ago. She smirks at them for trying though as she looks up to the opening for getting out. She hears the fighting stop suddenly as she listens to hear a voice that she would never have imagined would still be alive.

"Allura..." She whispers in fear as remembering something that she didn't want to.

Flashback:

She stands between the lions once again as she opens her eyes to the research lab under Altea's castle. She waits for the King Alfor to arrive with the others. They are going to release the lions. She glances up to see them appear in the elevator coming down. She watches them appear before her with shock on their faces.

"Alfor!" She calls out to him as she waves for him to come over with a smile on her face.

"Linna, it is great to see you!" King Alfor replies with a smile. "I told you that you didn't have to be here."

"I wanted to see them take off." Linna answers him with a smile.

"Who is this?" Zarkon asks with a questioning look.

"This is Linna. She is the one that help build the lions with me. She came up with basically everything." King Alfor tells them with a smile.

"How old are you?" Trigel wonders as she looks at her small statue.

"I believe 14 years old." Linna answers to her. "I really don't know."

"I found her outside of the castle trying to observe the part of the comet that I was studying, and she has been apart of the team ever since." King Alfor laughs a little. "She is great friends with Allura as well."

"So Alfor, how do they work?" Zarkon asks him as he glances over towards Linna.

"We made them from the quintessence-infused ore of the comet, which provides them with an endless supply of power." Linna informs the group.

"Remarkable!" Zarkon speaks with shock in his voice.

"The comet alloy also renders them nearly indestructible." Alfor tells them.

"That doesn't mean they're indestructible though." Linna points out to the group. "These lions have emotions and feelings just like you and I. Oh..."

Linna jumps up in shock as she runs off to check on the lions when she senses something is up. Alfor shakes his head with amusement as he watches her work with the lion side by side. He knows that she is the true creator and leader of the lions. She just doesn't want all that power.

"What sort of weaponry do they have?" Blaytz wonders to Alfor as he turns his attention back to the group.

"This is where things become more interesting. Altean alchemy can accomplish some incredible features of engineering, as you know. But in testing my ship, I started to feel some sort of psychic link. I'm not sure how to explain it, but the ship wasn't just reading my mind. It was communicating with me. They seem to be evolving. We don't yet know what powers these ships possess, but we may gain understanding with time." Alfor informs them of his discovering.

"Time? Time slips away even as we stand here. My people will soon be slaughtered by dark creatures from another realm. Without these ships, all hope is lost." Zarkon cries out to Alfor.

"I understand." Alfor tells him with his hand towards the lion as he leads them to the center of the lions.

"Are we sending them?" Linna asks Alfor as each one of them stares up to a lion of there choice.

"Yes." Alfor lowers towards Linna. "I want you to make sure they are alright before we leave. You have a better bond then anyone here with the lions."

"Alright." Linna answers him as she goes around to each of the lions and checks for their approval of this.

King Alfor begins talking to the group again, "It may take some doing. These are not regular ships to be chosen at a whim. You do not pick the beast. The beast will chose you."

"They're not beasts!" Linna calls out to him as she stares at the bonds that are starting to be created between each one of the leaders.

She smiles at them all except for Zarkon. She believes in his ways, but she senses something as he bonds with the Black lion. She feels that something is going to go terribly wrong. She places her hands on the Black lion just to make sure that she is alright with the journey that King Alfor has chosen for them.

Zarkon turns around to face the Black lion as he glances over towards Linna. Alfor tilts his head towards his friend while walking over to him.

"What is she doing?" Zarkon asks Alfor as they stare at her talking to the lion.

"She has a bond with all five of the lions." Alfor informs the group because everyone has gathered around them now. "She stays here at night and talks with them for hours. She doesn't leave their sides so she has bonded greatly with each of them. I don't know how she did it, but she has created herself a family with the lions."

"That's amazing." Gyrgan speaks up to the group.

"She is so young." Trigel says with concern in her voice.

"I know. But she doesn't want to do or be any where else." Alfor tells them as he sighs to her approaching them.

"The lions are ready. They believe that they have chosen well." Linna informs Alfor with a smile on her face, but she is hiding something.

She senses something deeply wrong with Zarkon. She knows that something might happen but that is only a feeling. She doesn't have any proof.

"Good job, Linna." Alfor places his hand on her shoulder. "I am very proud of you."

"I am going to head and hang out with Allura if that's okay?" Linna asks Alfor.

"Alright. Tell her I will be home later."

"Alright." Linna waves good-bye to the Paladins as she darts to the elevator.

Zarkon looks at the girl before turning to Alfor. "She does not call you by your title. Why is that?"

"I told her not too." Alfor informs him. "We are family. Just like you and I are great friends." He sighs as he watches her disappear with the elevator. "Alright, lets get into our lions!"

Flashback Ends:

Linna falls down to the ground as she remembers her past. She doesn't want to remember it. She feels the tears falling down her eyes as they hit the floor.

"I knew that Zarkon wasn't ready. I should have... I should have..." Linna cries out as she looks up towards the lions when she realizes the reason she remembered that moment. "How is she alive? Is that really her?"

The lions eyes light up in a sign of 'yes'. Linna places her arms around her chest as it starts to hurt in pain. She listens as she hears Allura's voice again over the intercom.

"Slow and Steady, Coran. Head for the xanthorium cluster."

"Yes, Princess. Beginning approach." Coran answers over the intercom as well.

"Coran..." Linna whispers as she recognizes his voice. "How are they alive?"

"Impact imminent in five, four, three, two..." Coran speaks over the alarms that are going off. "Well, that's something."

"What is it?" Allura asks him.

"Putting it up on the screens." Coran tells her.

She waits for anything to come through again but nothing. Linna listens for a while until she hears the doors open up to the base where I am at.

"Quiznak!" Linna whispers before hiding behind Black.

She watches as new people walk into the base. Linna doesn't know anyone of them. She spots the Galra and four other people enter the Red lion. She hides into the color of the Black lion so no one can see her at all. She listens to them leave the hanger before heading towards the main base of the Castle. That is where she believes Allura is. Linna makes it to the door as she listens to Allura inside.

"I knew he couldn't be trusted!" Allura screams at the screen.

"It wasn't him." Shiro tells her.

"How can you be sure?" Allura asks him.

"It doesn't matter now. What should we do?" Coran interrupts their little argument.

"Why can't we hide here in the space clam and wait for it to go away?" Hunk asks the others.

"Everyone get to your lions, but don't launch. We will wait to see what it does." Shiro informs the group of a plan. "I don't want to risk fighting it if we don't have to."

Linna starts to open the door before she hears footsteps running quickly down the hall towards the door she is in front of. She darts into another hiding place as she watches Coran entering the main hall where Allura stands where her father stood long ago.

"Allura..." Linna whispers as she notices that she hasn't aged one bit.

"He's drawing in the xanthorium clusters!" Coran informs the group with some panic in his voice.

"Wait?" Linna thinks about the situation at hand. "If he is swallowing them, he is..."

Linna knows what he is doing, but before she can get out of her hiding spot. The ro-beast already fired back and found the rift. Suddenly the castle takes a direct hit and pain shoots Linna in the chest.

"That hurt..." She whispers as she listens to Coran.

"Direct hit! He definitely knows we're here!"

"Get the particle barrier up!" Allura orders Coran.

Linna zones out the rest of the world for a moment until Allura yells, "We're exposed! The space fold has been lowered!"

"Well, there goes Ulaz." Coran mentions causally.

"I knew we should never trust a Galra." Allura speaks with dread in her voice.

Linna stares at the emptiness of the wall when Allura says that. She doesn't understand that it isn't the Galra that are doing this. It is what came out of that rift. Ulaz is also a part of the Blade. He would never abandon his team. Linna covers her ears so she can't anything else, only feeling the hits being taken from the beast. She listens to the lions as they cry in pain at some hits as well as the pressure that builds upon each injuring.

Finally after along wait, Linna hears the lions have returned. She wonders if she should reveal herself to Allura or not. Her heart aches with pain of remembering everything and needs to explain all of the things that are happening. She opens her eyes and decides that she is going to do it. She wants to see Allura and Coran in person. She walks through the shadows towards the lions bay before triggering the alarm.

She watches as the red lights flash over and over, above her. She closes her eyes that hide under her hood right now before she hears the doors open. She slowly turns her head enough to see Allura and the new paladins in front of her. They look up towards the lion who growl towards them in anger.

"What is going on?" Lance wonders to them as he looks at the lions, growling.

"Why are they growling at us?" Pidge asks Allura as she stares into the intruders eyes.

"Red!" Keith yells towards his lion. "What are you doing?"

The Red lion lowers her head towards Linna as she places her hand on the lion. Allura notices the burn marks that line her hand which only one person that Allura knew back then had. She walks out from behind the paladins as she stares at the intruder. Linna smirks at Allura before walking out of the lions circle.

"Allura!" Shiro speaks up in concern as he reaches towards her.

Allura shakes Shiro off as she stares at the intruder. She walks a little closer towards her as she tilts her head with tears slowly appearing in her eyes.

"You can't be..." Allura speaks up with shock in her voice.

"Allura?" Coran appears through the doors as he stares at the intruder's figure.

"Security needs to be updated Coran!" Linna shouts from under the hood as she continues to hide her head from them.

"Wait..." Coran stares at her with shock in his eyes. "Only one person could know the security from the back of their head besides pop pop. It can't be..."

"Coran..." Allura speaks up with her eyes open wider as she realizes the voice.

"It is great to see you guys again." Linna finally says as she allows the hood to fall down to her back and stares at them. "You have been gone for 10,000 years, and it was not very easy to track you."

"Linna..." Allura feels the tears forming in her eyes again. "How are you here?"

"Wait! She's Altean!"

Pidge points out the marks on her face as everyone stares at the intruder. Linna smiles at the group as everyone stands there waiting for someone to ask something or do something. But no one dares to do anything until Allura runs up to her and embraces her in a great hug as everyone stares at them with shock and confusion all in one expression.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I know this is a long chapter. Also, you will not get any updates next week since I have four back to back exams all week. Hope you all have a great week! Please Comment and Review! Love ya!**

**Season 2 Episode 4: Greening the Cube**

Linna sits on the middle circle as everyone stands around her, silently. She looks up towards Allura and Coran. She is waiting for someone to speak or something.

"So..." Lance speaks for a moment. "You're Altean."

"Yes." Linna answers him with a weird voice to her. "We have already figured that out."

"Well, yeah. But we have only met Allura and Coran. Not another Altean."

"Your the Blue Lion Paladin, aren't you?" Linna states with a sigh in her voice.

"How did you know?" Lance raises his voice to her as he stares at her.

"Your personality." Linna answers him as she looks over towards Allura. "What is it?"

Allura looks towards her as she sighs before speaking, "How are you here? I thought you died with everyone else. Coran and I thought we were the only Altean's left."

"It's been 10,000 years Linna. What happened with you and King Alfor after I went to sleep?" Coran states to Linna after Allura stops talking.

"What?" Allura stares at Coran after he states that before turning back to Linna. "You were with Father?"

"Yes," Linna answers Allura with a shrug to her. "I had to make sure the Lions were sent out. I also had to make sure that the Black lion was protected before the castle was sent away."

"But you couldn't have been alive for the last 10,000 years, can you?" Pidge wonders to Linna as she points out the years that have pasted.

"I went to the sleeping pods after we landed on another planet. I just woke up four Earth years ago." Linna explains to them. "So now I think I am older than Allura or something like that. I am not really sure at this point."

"Wait!" Pidge butts in before anyone else can talk. "You know we are from Earth?"

"Well of course. I was on Earth about a year or two ago. Why?" Linna tilts her head towards them with a confused look on her face.

"How is it?" Lance yells in excitement towards her.

"Fine..." Linna tells him with a stutter in response. "It is just like it was the last time I went there."

"You were there before?" Keith wonders to her now.

"Yeah." Linna says to him in reply. "I was there to check on the Blue lion. Alfor gave me the map to the lions since he wanted me to wake up a little earlier than Coran and Allura. He wanted me to make sure they were okay. I also needed to gather more information on the Galra."

"When did he do all of this?" Coran states in shock and panic. "I don't remember this being the plan. Well, there really wasn't a plan now that I think about it."

"Of course there wasn't a plan, Coran. He just wanted to make sure that you both were alright." Linna giggles a little at Coran's reaction.

"So why didn't you go back to the Castle after checking on the lions?" Allura wonders to Linna now. "We were there for a while before leaving. Why did you never come back until now?"

Linna stops for a moment and places her hand over her heart. She lowers her eyes to the floor for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking at Allura.

"The Castle was somewhere else before you woke up. It moved after I left with a pod to go to Earth. I couldn't sense the lions or the castle until I think you guys got stuck in a worm loop or something? The lions got scattered again, and I was able to sense the Green lion for a moment to figure out the general area of where you were." Linna informs them as she glances over towards Pidge. "That was really smart of you to use the Green lions energy to make a signal by the way."

"Thanks." Pidge says in return with a smile on her face.

"That's amazing. You were able to sense that even though you are not the Green lions paladin." Shiro states back to Linna as he looks at her with shock.

"The lions are amazing creatures with a great connection with their paladins. They share a similar bond with me because I helped a little with their creation." Linna replies to him with a smile. "You all will be able to do that soon once you connect deeper with your lions."

"Wait! You created the lions, but I thought King Alfor made them?" Hunk wonders to the group of what Linna said.

"Linna is the actual creator of the lions. King Alfor did help her, but she is the main creator." Coran answers Hunk as he massages his mustache while speaking.

"Don't give me all the credit." Linna chuckles a little. "I just thought it was beautiful to watch and see." Linna stops for a moment as she remembers the first time she met King Alfor but that is for another day. "Anyway," Linna slowly gets up from her sit as she stretches her arms in the air. "You need to go fix the castle after that battle we had. I know the shield needs to be checked out."

"You're right." Coran says with excitement. "That's what the paladins can do for us."

"What?" They all say except for Pidge.

"Cool..." Pidge says instead with excitement.

"You must love our tech?" Linna answer to her reply to Coran.

"It is amazing! I can't believe a civilization from 10,000 years ago had this advanced technology!" Pidge informs Linna of her excitement of Altean technology.

"You sound like me when I was younger." Linna whispers with a sigh as she looks towards the crystal above them.

Coran begins telling the Paladins of what they need to do while Allura walks over towards Linna. They both look at the crystal for a moment as Allura placing her arm on Linna's shoulder.

"It's a different crystal." Allura states to her as she walks on her platform.

"I noticed." Linna replies as she steps on as well. "Do you remember when we did a wormhole without Alfor's permission?"

"You were sent to the hospital for a week while I was ordered never to do that again." Allura giggles at Linna at the thought of that memory.

"I remember. We combined both of our Altean genes into the teludav. It worked really well except that it took all of my energy and none of yours." Linna stares into the crystal again. "It was a great time."

"It was..." Allura states with a sigh. "I really missed you, Linna."

"I missed you too." Linna says in return as they hold onto each other with a hug before Coran pretend coughs to get their attention.

"Yes?" Allura asks as they both release their hug. "What is it?"

"The paladins were wondering if Linna would like to go out with them to fix the repairs?" Coran answers with a question in return.

"Um..." Linna looks over each of the paladins before answering. "Sure, but I am not helping. I will just watch."

"Cool!" Pidge answers as she grabs Linna by the arm and they run out the door to put on their suits.

"Well, I think Pidge found a new friend." Shiro states with a chuckle as the rest of the team heads that way.

Outside the Castle of Lions:

"Let's hurry up with these repairs. Zarkon could be here at any moment." Shiro tells the team as they lift the panel up.

"Okay, panel's off. Now, what?" Hunk says into their mics.

"Very simple. Just loosen the blaxums on the somoflange." Coran states through the mic like the paladins know what he is talking about.

Everyone stares at the panel very blankly before glancing over to Linna, standing there with her arms crossed. She holds her breath, trying not to laugh at their expressions.

"I am just watching, remember." She states back to them with a smirk.

Hunk looks at the rest of the team before speaking again, "Could you be more specific?"

"Sorry, Hunk, he means the poklones on the agroclams." Allura answers back as Linna begins laughing like crazy now.

"No, that doesn't help." Hunk replies to them.

"Easy, Hunk. I got this." Lance moves Hunk to the side as he looks at the panel.

Linna stops laughing because she knows that this is not going to end well. She stares at Lance as he begins to press everything, but what Allura and Coran just told them. Suddenly, the panel begins to turn a glowing red light with a loud blaring alarm. Linna watches as the whole castle lights with the red color.

"Uh-oh. That can't be good." Lance says with panic in his voice.

"You think!" Linna says in return to him.

"No, not the smalters, the poklones!" Allura yells at him through the alarm noise.

"No, no! It's the blazums!" Coran says in return with panic in his voice. "Linna fix it!"

"Nope."

"Why not?" Coran says to her in panic.

"What are you talking about?" Keith yells pass them through his mic.

Linna watches as Pidge floats closer to the panel. She stares at it with determination in her eyes. Linna smirks at her before Pidge presses the correct sequence for the panel. Linna chuckles a little before shaking her head in amazement.

"There. Fixed."

"Well done, Pidge!" Allura says to her in excitement.

"The tech on this ship never ceases to amaze me. It's so mathematically elegant. Its fit is a 100 times more friction-less than any exoskeleton we have on Earth. It's... beautiful." Pidge says with stars shining in her eyes of amazement.

"It's not a sunset, Pidge." Lance answers in return with disappointment.

"You're right. A billion sunsets just happen every day." Pidge states to Lance with sarcasm in her voice as she continues talking, "Some genius engineer actually built this."

"Kinda looks like a big, delicious curly fry." Hunk says with some drool hanging down his mouth.

"You must enjoy food." Linna answers to him in return to his remark of the description to the panel.

"I don't enjoy it. I love it!" Hunk replies to her with a smile.

A few seconds past and Linna watches a blue glowing ball hit Hunk in the face. She looks over in the direction it came from to see Lance getting ready to throw another one.

"What the..." Hunk says after the impact.

Shiro looks around as more approach them. No one has noticed that Lance is the one that hit Hunk not the random ones approaching them. Linna shakes her head at the paladins as they stare at the objects with wonder. She glances at them before realizing what they are. She slowly grabs one and stares at it both Shiro begins to speak.

"All right, we're prepared for this." Shiro says as he reveals his shield on his arm. "Remember your rogue projectile cluster training from the Garrison."

Keith pulls his shield up as Lance takes a hold of one of the balls. Linna glances at Lance while shaking her head at him. She turns back to Shiro as he continues to talk.

"First, we need a temporary shelter." Shiro states before Lance throws the ball right into the back of Shiro's head. "What?"

Linna laughs so hard while Lance just smiles at his leader. Shiro turns around to Lance with disappointment in his voice before Lance starts laughing while speaking to him.

"Oh sorry, Shiro. I was trying to hit Keith."

Linna watches as Keith throws a ball right at Lance's face and it hits perfectly. Lance growls at Keith as he stares at him with an angry look in his face expression. Keith and Shiro smirk at his anger.

Keith chuckles before saying in return, "Like that?"

Hunk giggles with excitement as he grabs two of them in his hands and jumps in the middle of the group. He yells with a huge grin on his face, "Yes! Squishy asteroid fight!"

Linna laughs at the paladins as four out of the five charge at each other with the spores. She watches Lance hide behind Hunk as he targets Keith. Linna just shakes her head at them before looking over at Pidge who has not joined in the battle.

"All right, guys." Shiro starts before getting fired upon by six spores at once. "Oh, oh! Okay, not, its on!"

Pidge takes a hold of one of the spores as she examines it. Linna notices the knowledge and intelligence that Pidge has in her. She smiles at the brains within that small little girl.

"I don't think these are asteroids." Pidge says to the group. "Coran, I'm going to need a containment unit."

"Just a tick." Coran says over the mics.

"They appear to be some sort of hyper-resilient spore." Allura states to the group.

"This bio-luminescent pulsing doesn't seem natural. It appears programmed. I think it's a code." Pidge states to the group as she places the spore into the containment unit.

"A code? From Who?" Hunk wonders as he takes his eyes off the battle, giving Keith a chance to hit him in the face.

"I don't know." Pidge says as she stares at the spore. "I mean it makes no sense. You can't program a spore." Pidge looks over to Linna now. "Can you?"

"I know a planet that can. But I am going to let you figure it out yourself." Linna replies to her with a smile.

"If anyone can figure it out, it's you, Pidge." Shiro states before getting slammed in the face by Lance's throw.

"You guys are so funny." Linna states to them as she giggles with excitement. "This is great!"

"Before that, everyone needs to come in for decontamination." Allura states to the group as Linna stops laughing.

"But I hate decontamination!" Linna whines into the mic.

"I don't care! It is going to happen!" Allura answers to her in return.

"If I get flown out of the ship again, you are the one that is coming to get me." Linna says in reply that leaves all the paladins looking at her with wonder.

"What do you mean by that?" Lance asks her as they enter the decontamination chamber.

"You'll see." Linna says as she stands with her arms crossed just like Keith.

The decontamination begins and all you hear is Hunk giggling and laughing through the whole thing. Linna hides behind Shiro after they were floating in water. Pidge looks at Linna for a moment before the winds speed quickly pass their faces. Linna and Pidge try to hold on, but after a moment they end up slamming into the wall together.

"Ah!" Linna and Pidge scream before hitting the wall.

The light finally changes to green when Pidge and Linna fall towards the floor. They look at the rest of the group before looking at each other with anger.

"That is why I hate the decontamination room." Linna states to them as she gets up and walks out of the room with Pidge close behind her.

**A Few hours later:**

"Linna, what are you doing?" Allura asks as she walks over to Linna sitting in Shiro's chair.

"Watching Coran roam the halls." Linna states to her as she points to the screen where Coran is about to open Keith's door.

"Keith, did you happen to see a mouse come through here?" Coran states over the screen as he searches through the room. "He has something of mine."

"Uh... no." Keith's voice comes through the screens.

Allura looks down in Linna's lap to see the thing that Coran is looking for. She crosses her arms before shaking her head with a smile on her face.

"You did it again."

"I couldn't help myself." Linna replies as they watch Keith and Coran stop in front of Lance's room.

"Oh, I think you'd know if the Galra were there." Coran turns around to answer Keith's question.

"The Blue lion was there. Did a Galra pilot the Blue lion, too?" Keith wonders to Coran before the doors open to Lance and his full face mask.

"What is he wearing!" Linna cracks up laughing at Lance's outfit and face cream mask.

"I really don't know!" Allura states to her as they die laughing their heads off.

Linna watches as they both talk to each other. She notices something in the two of them. She wonders if she is just pretending it is between them. She listens as Lance speaks again to Keith.

"The Blue lion's with me and we're very happy together! Very happy!" Lance tells him as the door shuts in front of him.

Suddenly, Pidge's voice comes through on the intercoms, "Guys! Check this out!"

Linna and Allura dart towards the Green lion's hangar. They walk into the room where Lance is back to being his normal clothes. Linna looks over towards Allura before they begin laughing again. Lance, Keith, and Coran just look at the two of them, wondering what they are laughing about.

"Nice outfit Lance." Linna just says before Hunk begins talking to the group as he stares at the spore with Lance by his side.

"Oh, oh! I've seen this experiment. But, question: Why do we need to get electricity from a potato?"

"What? No, no. I was able to crack the "sporse code." Pidge answers him with a chuckle at the end of his sentence. "I ran the bio-luminescent pattern through a variety of code-breaking sequences, including this homemade virtual Turing machine. Of course, I had to make a few tweaks to the original design, because, obviously, there have been several advancements since he designed it. Although, you have to admit, Turing was a shining light in the world of science in an age when far too many were still..."

"Pidge." Keith states with a little annoyance in his voice. "What does it say?"

"Oh, yeah." Pidge says as she gets back to the spore. "Under attack. Galra. Help." Pidge turns back to the paladins again. "And then, there are coordinates."

"It's a distress signal. Good work, Pidge." Shiro states to her as he turns to the rest of the team. "Get those coordinates into the castle-ship's navigation system."

"Alright." Coran states as he heads up the stairs with everyone else coming behind him.

**A few moments later: Castle is heading to the planet**

"The signal came from Olkarion, home of the Olkari, a proud class of engineers, builders of vast cities that could change shape at the whim of their creators." Coran begins to tell the Paladins.

"They had a seemingly magical ability to manipulate solid metal. With just the wave of their hands, they could build a computer inside a block of steel." Allura says with amazement.

"Whoa!" Pidge states almost in shock.

"I remember Olkarion. I was just there a couple decafeebs." Linna states to them as she sits in Shiro's chair and her legs crossed on the dash board.

"You were! So you knew the spores were from Olkarion!" Pidge restates to Linna as she grins at them.

"You are going to love their abilities." Linna lowers her head to the floor for a moment like she is hiding something. "I must have just missed the Galra attack."

"You got lucky then." Shiro tells her but she keeps her head lowered.

"You could say that..." Linna whispers as Coran tries to lighten the mood.

"An Olkari once gave me this!" Coran states to them as he shows them a small green cube, floating in his hand.

"What is it?" Lance wonders to him as he leans in a little closer to check it out.

"Uh, hello? It's a floating cube!" Coran says with confidence as he crosses his arms in front of him and giggles to himself. "Oh, this guy. And Watch!" Coran acts a little serious as he says this line, "My name is Coran and I'm a gorgeous man."

The cube beeps quickly before repeating what Coran just said in his same voice. Pidge stares at it with amazement and fascination. Lance just stares at it while Hunk is just thinking about food in his mind.

Keith has his arms crossed and looks a little confused before speaking to Coran, "Why would a society full of literal tech wizards use spores to send a distress signal?"

"Who cares? When do we get to see that city?" Pidge states to Keith, still fascinated with the cube.

"If the Galra have attacked, Olkari's have fled to the forest. We probably are going to not even go near the city right now." Linna states to the group as she gets up from her seat. "They probably found a way to connect with the nature of the world like they do with technology and that is why we found spores as a distress signal and not an actual one."

"How would you know all of this?" Keith eyes Linna with suspicion in his eyes.

"Because I was there right before the Galra attack." Linna states to them again because she did tell them that she was there just a few decafeebs. "I am heading to the lions for a bit."

Linna looks up to Allura for a moment before walking out of the room. Everyone stares at the empty doorway as Allura lowers her head for a moment. She remembers Linna being great friends with Olkarion's people. She would travel there many times a year when they were younger.

"Well," Hunk says to break the awkward tension in the room. "When will we be there?"

"Well," Allura turns back to the coordinates. "Linna was right. The distress signal isn't coming from the city. It is coming from the forest."

"Oh..." Pidge lowers her head in disappointment now.

"Should we bring Linna with us on this mission?" Shiro glances over towards Allura for a reply.

"I would ask her yourself. She has a special bond with the people there, but that was a very long time ago." Allura states to Shiro.

"Alright. Suit up, team!" Shiro states to them as he walks towards the lion's hangar to speak with Linna.

**In the Lion's:**

"Why doesn't anyone ever send a distress signal from a cool place? I hate the outdoor. Nothing but sunburn and poison oak." Pidge whines to the group.

"I like it out here. It's quiet." Keith replies back to Pidge.

Suddenly arrows attack the lions. Linna watches the arrows fly pass them as they hit each one of the lions. She senses the connection that the Olkari are placing on the lions for a quick moment.

"What was that?" Hunk wonders to the others.

"Uh, are we being attacked?" Keith states to Shiro.

"I don't know, but something's dragging my lion down to the surface." Shiro tells the others. "Linna, do you anything?"

"It is the Olkari. Do not fight it." Linna tells them.

"How are they pulling us down?" Lance asks her.

As they reach the end of the tree line, Linna stares at the window with tears in her eyes. She sees them. Shiro watches as Linna places her hand on the window of the lion to smile at the people below.

"They are alive..." Linna whispers as she walks out of the area to wait to get out.

"Are those wooden mech suits?" Hunk wonders to the group.

"Are you kidding me? We got taken down by a bunch of tree people!" Lance yells into the mics in disappointment in his voice.

"We come in peace!" Shiro states over a speaker.

"Could it be? Voltron?" Ryner states in shock.

"We found your distress signal!" Pidge yells when she pops out of her lion.

"Praise Lubos!" Everyone yells in happiness.

Ryner watches as everyone gets out of their lions before spotting one person that she remembers. She looks over with her head tilted to the side as Linna smiles at her with happiness.

"Ryner!" Linna yells as she runs out of the group and hugs her. "I am so happy to see you!"

"I am glad to see that you escaped." Ryner says with tears in her eyes.

"I told you that they couldn't hole me. I learned from the best." Linna smiles at Ryner as the paladins watch them.

"So you know each other?" Keith states to the two of them with suspicion again in his voice.

"Linna came here a few decafeebs ago. She was here about right when the Galra attacked. She saw they were coming and informed us immediately so a lot of us escaped."

"So you didn't tell us the truth." Keith says with a little anger in his voice.

"I am going to say this one more time." Linna looks at him with a fire burning in her eyes. "I am not here to tell you everything. I am here to inform you of things that I know would be to hard for you to comprehend. I am here for something that doesn't concern any of you." Linna states to him as she walks back into the Black lion to wait.

"I see that she is still doing her mission." Ryner says without realizing it.

"What mission?" Shiro asks Ryner with wonder.

"She will tell you when it is time. She came here to help us and when she did. The Galra took her for a few days, I would say. I had no way of helping her, but she got out and came to help us. She was so badly bruised and beaten that I thought she was going to die. She told me though that she couldn't die until her mission was complete. I really don't know what her mission is, but I know that is something that she is willy to die for." Ryner informs the group before turning around and leading them to the place where they have been leaving for many decafeebs. "Come."

"What kind of mission is she on?" Keith wonders as he looks at Shiro who is holding the same look in his eyes.

"We will have to keep an eye on her." Shiro whispers to Keith.

"Yes, sir." Keith replies as they walk with the group to the village.

Linna sits in the compartment area with her arms covering her chest. Pain echoes in her body as she senses something coming. She closes her eyes as the pain hits her in the head knocking her unconscious. Her body lays on the ground with a single Altean mark, laying on her wrist, but it's covered by her glove so no one will see it yet.

**Skip pass the battle:**

"I want to thank you all. You helped us get our home back. And, for that, we will never be able to repay you." Ryner tells the Paladins.

"Just promise me that when it's time to take the fight to Zarkon, we can count on the Olkari for help." Shiro replies to her with a smile on his face.

"Now and forever." Ryner shakes her hands with Shiro with a smile on her face. She slowly turns towards Pidge to tell her, "And you... The spirit of the Olkari resides in you. The bond between you and your lion has grown stronger than ever."

"Without you, I would never have been able to unlock my lion's hidden ability." Pidge tells her with a smile.

"I know you would have in time. Linna would have..." Ryner begins but stops for a moment when she realizes something. "Where is Linna?"

"I think she was taking a nap in the Black lion." Lance tells the group.

"She would be out here by now. She always says good-bye." Ryner says with concern in her voice.

"I will go check." Shiro replies as he runs to his lion. He opens the compartment area to see Linna unconscious still, on the floor. "Guys! We need to get her back to the ship now!"

"Why?" Everyone wonders as they run to the Black lion.

"What is wrong with her?" Ryner wonders as she stares at Linna in Shiro's lap with sweat pouring down her body. "She looks like she is sick."

"I don't know. But we must get her in a healing pod now." Shiro tells them as they all prepare for the lions departure.

"Shiro," Ryner places her hand on Shiro's shoulder as he lays Linna down on a bed. "Please give her this when she wakes up."

Ryner hands Shiro a small green cube like the one Coran has. Shiro nods his head to agree to her as she leaves the ship. Shiro and the other lions head off as they get Allura and Coran on the mics again.

"Allura. Coran. We need a healing pod quickly." Shiro states in the mics.

"What's wrong?" Allura wonders to the team.

"Something is happening to Linna." Shiro answers them as he sends the video of Linna laying in the compartment area with sweat beating down her face.

"I will get it ready!" Coran yells as he dashes out of view.

"Do you know what might be happening Allura?" Pidge wonders with pain in her voice.

"I don't know." Allura states to Pidge with tears forming in her eyes. "She hasn't done this before."

"She will be alright, Allura." Lance tries to comfort her. "She is strong."

"I know... I just don't understand what could be happening to her." Allura states as the video goes off and everyone sits in quiet until they get to the castle.

Shiro places Linna into the healing pod as Coran types something in. Everyone stares at Linna almost struggling in the pod as the sweat comes down faster. Allura places her hand on the glass as she lowers her head.

"Please be alright. Please."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Please comment and review! I love hearing from you guys! Hope you guys have a great week! Love ya!

Episode: The Ark of Taujeer

Keith and Allura floating in space:

"So what happens if Zarkon does come after us?" Keith wonders to Allura with worry in his voice.

"You said you could pilot us to safety, right?" Allura states back to him with almost anger in her voice.

"Sure, but after that, could we even go back to the group? And if we don't, who could pilot the Castle or create wormholes?" Keith wonders to Allura as he lowers her head to not face her.

"Linna can do that if she ever wakes up, but what about you? Without you, the team cannot form Voltron." Allura states back to him in anger.

"Can't Linna pilot the lion?" Keith asks Allura as he looks back towards her.

"She would never do that." Allura lowers her head to him as her voice lowers to almost a whisper. "She promised that she would never pilot a lion."

"Why?" Keith turns his head in shock to see Allura's face again. "She has a connection with the lions that is greater than all of ours."

"She made a promise." Allura turns her head to face the other direction away from Keith. "That's all I know. My father told me that she would never break that promise anyway. Not even to save a life according to him."

"Not even to save a life?" Keith whispers back in return as he turns to see the stars flickering around them. "I wonder what promise she made?"

"I have wondered that my whole life." Allura tells him as they sit there in complete silence for the rest of the time.

Skip a few hours:

Linna starts to feel another hit of pain in her body as another Altean mark, reveals on her body. She feels sweat travel down her face as she goes numb in her bones. She sees his face appear before her with revenge in his eyes, causing her to wake up with a shock of pain.

"Ah!" Linna screams as she glances around the pod after hitting her head against the door. "What? Where am I?"

Linna presses against the pod as it opens for her. She wobbles out with almost no energy at all in her body. She places her hands on the table in front to see how long she has been out. She looks over to see another mark on her other wrist as well.

"Three days!" Linna states to herself in shock and frustration. "You have to be kidding."

Coran's voice comes over the intercom now. "Keith, Allura, are you there?"

"We're here, Coran. What is it?" Allura comes through.

"Zarkon is definitely not tracking us through either of you." Coran shouts through the mic.

"He's not?" Keith states.

"How do you know?" Allura asks him.

"Because your out there, and a Galra fleet just showed up here! We need you now!" Coran screams in terror.

"We will be there in two doboshes." Allura tells Coran.

Everything goes black from the end of connection. Linna suddenly feels a quick race of a heart beat in her chest. She feels something is wrong with Allura. Linna glances at the marking that has appeared on her wrist from Olkarion. It begins to glow a little, causing her to hide it under her glove as she walks out of the healing pods' room.

"So we don't have Allura or Keith." Linna states to herself of the situation they are in. "So no Voltron. Galra are here attacking." Linna stops in her tracks because she knows what she is going to have to do. "Great!"

Linna runs towards the main area of the castle as she watches Coran run out of it. Linna smirks a little because she knows what he is trying to do. Linna closes the door real quick as she stares at the situation. She looks to see that all of the lenses are broken or cracked. So Linna walks onto Allura's platform as she watches the pillars start to rise up to her hands.

"I will have to use you..." Linna says to herself as she closes her eyes and focuses on something.

She sees them appear before her with their beautiful white color glowing around them. She focuses on their ability of creation as she senses Red upset. Linna opens her eyes and smirks at the feelings that are connecting between her and the lions.

"Let's find them Red." Linna whispers as she focuses on Red in the hangar now.

She closes her eyes and feels the connection between Keith and the Red lion. She can see their bond is strong. She finally reaches Keith's and Allura's location as the Red lion begins to take off towards Keith. Linna smirks at Coran in the hangar, waiting for Red to come back.

"Go get them girl!" Linna shouts with a happiness. "Now, I better get ready to use it."

Allura and Keith:

Keith and Allura are just floating around in space, trying to get back to the other Paladins. Keith closes his eyes to focus on his lion and his bond. He can sense someone else almost with his lion as he finds her. He continues to focus on Red before Allura says something to him.

"Keith, look!" Allura yells as she spots the Red lion coming their way. "The Red lion found you!"

Keith and Allura get into the Red lion as a wormhole opens in front of them within seconds. Keith can still feel the other person's presence in his lion. He looks at the wormhole like he can feel their presence in there as well. They both look at it with a questioning look because it looks like Allura's wormhole. They look completely shocked that it was working because all of the lenses are still broken. Coran hasn't been able to fix them.

"Will you get in the wormhole already!" Linna yells through the microphone. "I can't hold it open as long as you Allura!"

"Linna!" Allura and Keith yell with shock.

"You're awake!" Allura states with happiness. "How?"

"Just get into the wormhole! We can talk about it when this battle is over, okay." Linna states to them as Keith enters the wormhole to appear before the ship. "Thank you."

"Thank you Linna." Allura says as they head into battle against the Galra.

After the battle:

Everyone walks into the ship with smiles on their faces. Allura runs into the main hanger as Linna stands from the circle. Allura wraps her arms around Linna as they both stand there with smiles.

"Linna!" Everyone yells in excitement except for Keith and Allura.

"She is the one that wormhole us here." Keith informs them all.

"You were able to do it." Coran states with shock. "How did you do that when the lenses are shattered to pieces? I thought you couldn't in the first place as well."

"I can do a small jump with maybe one person or two. I can't do the amount of power like Allura. And I didn't use the lenses. I just focused on the Lion's energy and generated that into a wormhole, sort of like making a rift in reality." Linna smirks at him as Allura releases her just so Pidge can grab a hug as well. "Hey, Pidge."

"Wait," Coran stops for a moment at the thought. "You did what?"

"I will explain it later." Linna tells him as she holds onto Pidge for another moment.

"So, what happened to you?" Shiro finally asks Linna before anyone else can ask the question.

Linna lowers her eyes as she catches a glance at the mark before looking back at Shiro. She shrugs at him with a 'I don't know' expression. She takes a deep breath before speaking.

"I didn't feel so good. Sorry if I scared you." Linna tells them all. "I just went back to the Black lion and was out."

"You have been out of three days." Pidge states to Linna.

"Yeah, I found that out." Linna rubs her neck as Pidge releases her from her grip. "But at least I am awake now."

"Yeah," Lance says with a smile on his face as he walks over towards Linna. "We were really missing your sass."

"I don't think you missed me that much." Linna states to him as she takes a step back away from Lance. "I am still new to the group."

"But you are part of our Family." Hunk tells her with a smile.

"Family..." Linna stares at him now as she remembers her family in the past.

"Linna..." Allura places her hand on Linna's shoulder. "This is your Family."

"Thank you." Linna whispers as she looks back at Hunk. "Thank you for that." Linna looks over to Keith and Allura now. "Now, don't you have something to say?"

"Right!" Allura remembers about what she needs to tell the group. "I'm so sorry for leaving."

"Me too. We thought we were doing the right thing." Keith states right after Allura.

"But clearly you were correct, Shiro. We are always stronger together." Allura says as she looks towards Shiro.

"At least we learned that Zarkon isn't tracking us though you two." Lance replies with his arms still crossed on his chest.

"Plus, I learned that my lion can grow armor and extend its claws like that... Ting! Which will come in handy if we ever needed to, say, I don't know, slice up a giant steak while getting beat up." Hunk states to the group as everyone stays quiet until Linna cracks up laughing.

"A giant steak!"

"Or fight evil and save innocent people. That too. That would work. But at least Linna got it!" Hunk restates to the group as he smiles at Linna.

"It was funny." Linna states to the group as she finally stops laughing. "Sometimes you guys are so serious."

"With Hunk, he was serious about the steak." Lance restates to her as they stare at her again.

"Oh." Linna lowers her head but still smirks a little.

"Anyway," Shiro changes the subject now. "The fact that the Red lion came to help Keith from so far away is a vital piece of information. We now have proof that a lion and a Paladin can, in fact, connect over a far greater distance than we realized. Which means we finally know how Zarkon is tracking us." Shiro states to the group before Linna bumps into Shiro and says, "It's through the Black lion."

Everyone stares at Linna and Shiro for a moment. Shiro turns around and stares at her with shock in his eyes. Everyone walks over towards Linna and eye her with confusion in their faces.

"How did you know what I was going to say?" Shiro wonders to her for an answer.

"I am connected to the Black lion too Shiro. Did you forget that?" Linna swings off the middle platform as she looks out into the space before them. "I sensed it when I was in my coma. I felt the bond drawn from you, Zarkon, and the Black lion."

"And you didn't mean to tell us?" Keith states to her with some anger in his voice.

"Why would I do that?" Linna tilts her head towards the group with confusion in her voice. "It is not my business if Zarkon is tracking us through the Black lion, and I have been in the coma for three days. I kind of couldn't tell you because of that." Linna states to the group as everyone still stares at her.

"When did you sense it?" Allura wonders to her friend.

"When I first came here, well sort of."

"What do you mean well, sort of?" Lance asks her with his hands crossed across his chest just like Keith's.

"I know that Zarkon is still bonded with the Black lion. That bond will last for infinity even after death." Linna informs them. "I felt a stronger bond with Shiro but before I woke up..." Linna stops for a moment and looks at the stars again.

"Before you woke up what?" Hunk says the sentence that she just stopped from finishing.

"I saw something." Linna replies to him still staring at the stars.

"Saw what?" Pidge wonders to her as they stare at her when she turns her face to show her expression.

"Someone is coming, and it is not a good someone." Linna tells them as she walks out of the door towards her very old room.

She opens the door with massive amounts of dust gathered after several years passing. She looks at a picture on the shelf beside her bed so she always would see it when she awoke or fell asleep. She lifts up the picture and wipes the dust from it to see King Alfor, Allura, Coran, and her with the lions behind them. She glances around the room and sees her journals that she wrote so long ago.

"He is coming. I will not allow him to interfere with anything. Lotor will not ruin our future." Linna whispers to herself as she places the picture back on the shelf and walks out of her room. "I won't allow it too happen."

Linna starts walking towards the hangar with the lions before the door opens to Keith in front of her. She stares at him with a confused look as she tries to walk into the hangar, but he stops her from entering.

"What do you want?" Linna asks him without looking at him.

"Were you the one that I felt was in the lion when Allura and I got into Red?" Keith wonders to her as her eyes open up with shock.

"You were able to sense me that far?" Linna looks at him now as she glances over towards Red. "She has a very strong bond with you."

"So you were the one that showed Red where Allura and I was, not our bond." Keith states to her with a disappointing look. "Then how do we know if Zarkon is really tracking us through the Black lion? Maybe you are lying to us."

"What?" Linna stares at him with disbelief to him. "Why would I lie to you?"

"I don't know you! We just met you a few days ago, and I still haven't been given a direct answer about who you really are." Keith states to Linna with anger in his voice. "So were you the one that really found Allura and I or did my bond with my lion do that?"

"Your bond with your lion. I was connected with Red to see where you were so I could create a wormhole, duh." Linna tells him as she slips under him and walks towards the lions. "Hey, guys!"

The lions roar at her entrance as they all lay their heads down for her to place a hand upon them. Keith follows her to the middle of the lions as he stares at Red. She lights up at the touch of Linna's hand pressed on her nose. Linna smiles at them before looking back at Keith.

"Come here." Linna says as she grabs his hand and places it on Red. "Feel her heart beating?"

"They don't have a heart." Keith states to her.

"Everything is connected remember. We are all part of the same thing. So everything has a heart. They have a soul and a brain. They have feelings just like you and I." Linna informs him as he closes his eyes to feel the heart.

He focuses on the metal beneath him as he listens to the surrounding area. He feels Red pulling him in closer as he senses it in the metal. He feels the pulse of a heart under his hand, causing him to open his eyes to see that Linna is smirking at him.

"That's amazing." Keith says with shock while looking up towards Red. "You are amazing."

"Zarkon didn't believe these lions to be creatures. That is why I am shocked that Black has stayed bonded with him."

Linna releases her hand from Red as she looks up to Black. She looks up and places her hand on Black's nose as she listens to the lion. Keith drops his hand as he walks over towards her. He stares up at the Black lion as he looks towards Linna.

"I remember when I first met Zarkon. He was nice, but I sensed something dark about him." Linna states to Keith. "I tried to warn Alfor, but he was his best friend. What did I know?"

"You didn't want him to bond with the Black lion." Keith says to her.

"No. I didn't." Linna turns to face Keith now. "I wanted someone else to pilot her. The only other person to pilot her, was me."

Keith stares at her when he remembers what he wanted to ask her when he got the chance. He places a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up towards him. He takes a deep breath before speaking to her.

"Why won't you pilot the lions?" Keith asks her as her eyes widen in almost fear.

"I just can't." Linna turns away from him as she covers her wrists to not show the markings. "I am forbidden too."

"Why?"

"It is something that I made a promise too. That is all I can tell you." Linna starts to walk away from him before stopping at the door. "Thanks for listening to me, Keith."

Keith stands there in the middle of the lions as Linna walks out of the doors. He looks at his hand that touched her shoulder because he senses something wrong. He feels something different from the Linna that was found here just three days ago. He looks over towards Red while he places his hand on her again to feel the heart beat that Linna showed to him. He can feel it as it beats slower almost with sadness. Keith looks up to Red as he whispers to her.

"You know something is wrong too.."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, so this is on the Space Mall episode, but we are not going to the mall. You are going to follow Linna and hopefully learn a little bit more about her, who knows, maybe we will learn about that promise. I didn't know any years so she marks the journals by month and the number of days it has been in those months. I was not figuring out how many days. That would take too long! So, I will not spoil anything though. Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying the story. Please Comment and Review! Love Ya!**

Episode: Space Mall

**Castle of Lions:**

Linna walks towards her room as everyone else runs to get into the ship with Coran. Shiro walks towards the Hangar to bond with his lion while Allura plays with her mice. Linna takes a deep breath as she opens her door to see the journals stare at her.

"I wonder if the answer is in here." Linna whispers to herself as she grabs a hold of one of her journals from the floor.

She opens the book to with the Numerical one on its cover. She smirks a little as she removes the cover to see a month appear. She was very knowledgeable about Earth at the time so she started labeling her entries as months.

"January..." Linna reads to herself as she goes to the next page while reading her journals to herself.

**Entries One, Book One: January, day 1**

'Today, I saw the comet. It was beautiful and glows with a white color. I sneak to the window outside of the laboratory to see King Alfor working on it. I want to become a great Alchemist just like him.

I wonder if I can meet with Princess Allura? I have seen her in the garden playing as I sit their with my torn up clothing that I have worn since my parents died. I really want my life to change.'

**Entries Two, Book One: January, day 12**

'King Alfor caught me today. He found out that I was the one messing around in his lab after hours. I just wanted to see the sketches for what he is building. He is creating these lions out of the comet. He just doesn't know the exact designs that he wants to make them out of.

Allura became my friend today as well. She is an amazing Princess. I can't wait to be in her court, who help make decisions with her. She doesn't want anyone else, just me. I wonder why that is? I asked her but she told me that I had to figure it out myself.'

**Entries Three, Book One: January, day 15**

'He allowed me to see if I was to be chosen by the White lion. I was! He is a great king that rules over Oriande. He talked to me, and we made a deal. A deal that I can never break no matter what. I will protect her with all my heart as long as I live.'

Linna stops reading for a moment as she feels the tears fall down her cheeks. She closes her eyes and senses his power that dominates inside of her. He is calling her for some reason. Linna opens her eyes and takes two other journals with her as she walks out of her room.

"Why are you calling me?" Linna says to herself as she walks into the main hangar where she sees Shiro struggling with his lion. "Don't give up..."

Linna walks over towards the other lions as she places her hands on them. She closes her eyes to inform them what is happening. She opens her eyes to theirs being in fear.

"Don't worry about me. I will be back before you know it." Linna whispers to them with a smile.

She walks out of the hangar as she enters the main corridor where Allura is distracted by the mice. Linna smirks at their performance as she types a quick message on the screen for Allura to find when she logs in again.

"Forgive me." Linna speaks softly as she darts out of the corridor and heads to the exit. "I hope this is important."

Linna walks over towards the pods when she gets into one of them. She slams the door shut after pushing her coordinates in the pod. She smirks at the design that hasn't changed at all really. Linna opens the exit door as she flies out of the hangar leaving the Paladins without her.

Linna sits in her pod while looking at her journals that she grabbed. She opens the first one again and continues reading.

**Entries Four, Book One: February, day 26**

'The White lion showed me great things of the future and past. He is a very powerful individual, and I am in charge of protecting him. I am only 12 years old. King Alfor is amazed by my knowledge of alchemy which is surpassing him now. He allows me to take over for the project of building the lions, and I accept it.

I met with Allura as well today. She wanted to know why I always hung out with her dad compared to her. She is not allowed to know about my promise or that I am the one building the lions. She isn't happy that I am keeping secrets from her. I have to though. King Alfor doesn't want anyone to try and hurt me. He wants me to be safe.'

**Entries Five, Book One: February, day 28**

'I sense something coming. I know something is coming. I woke up with another nightmare of his face. I don't know who he is though. He is haunting my dreams. He is going to be the one that will cause Allura's death. I can sense it. I sleep with the lions now because of them. The lions protect me and that's all I need from them.

They all crowd around me and wake me up before King Alfor gets downstairs. He doesn't know that I lay with them all night. I am going to stay with them for as long as I can. They are my family because of my connection with them all. Many individuals don't understand me, but I know what they lions feel or see without even thinking.'

**Entries Six, Book One: March, day 16**

'I met Zarkon today. I met everyone today that will be piloting my lions. I sense that dark force like my nightmares that come from him. It isn't the same though. There is a slight difference. I feel the White lion pulling me to come. I don't know why or how he is. He is so powerful. I will inform Alfor that I need to be by myself for a while.

Alfor doesn't need to know about my connection that I have. He doesn't even know about the real promise. I just told him something so he could inform Allura about it. I have to keep this to myself.'

**Entries Seven, Book One: September, day 30**

'Zarkon attacked us. He attacked us. Allura and Coran are in the chambers while Alfor and I are waiting. We have some time left. I saw that tears and worry in his eyes when he turn to face me. He gave me one order before I place this book in my room. He ordered me to protect Allura as well as keep the promise that I won't reveal to him. He knew that I didn't tell him the truth.

"Protect my daughter just like you protect the lions." Alfor stated to me.

I will protect them. I will protect her with everything I got. They are my dearest family. I guess this is my last entire until I wake up. Good-bye Alfor. Good-bye Allura. See you when we awake.'

Linna leans back in her seat as she takes a deep breath again. She looks at the stars that glitter in the dark sky while she cruises through. She looks at the other three books sitting beside her. She grabs the one that is marked with a numerical 4 on it.

"I remember you..."

Linna stares at it with fear in her eyes. This is the one that she put together two years ago and placed them in the castle before it disappeared from her. The other two are from the other two years after she woke up. She remembers those years.

**Entries One, Book Four: January, day 1**

'I finally found the castle! It took me two years to do it but I found it. Everyone, Allura and Coran, are asleep still. It has been two years. Alfor's plan worked after all though. I checked on the Castle and everything is in functioning order even after 10,000 years almost. I haven't spotted any Galra since I woke up but I sense them coming.

I looked up the lions to see where they are. Black is still with us, but the others are separated everywhere. There is no way that I can be there. I don't understand why Alfor wanted me to be awake first. I am so lonely. I lay with the Black lion even with the shield up to protect her from Zarkon. I am going to protect them.'

**Entries Two, Book Four: February, day 1**

'A whole month! I have been trapped on this ship for a whole month! I am just done! Why can't I wake up Allura or Coran? I just want a friend. I think that I am going to adventure outside for a little while. I know, He is warning me not too, but I have to talk with another individual. I left for the two years before. Maybe if I leave now, the castle won't leave again.'

**Entries Three, Book Four: February, day 26**

'I am so stupid. I am really stupid. I am now trapped in a Galra ship. The Castle has disappeared, and I am a prisoner to Zarkon. What am I suppose to do? Haggar has done something to my mind. I am losing my connection to the Black lion.

Zarkon is trying to make me find another comet and create new lions. I am not going to do that. I am going to fight until I take my last breath. I might not be able to keep my promise, but I will not allow Zarkon to take control over me. This will be the last entire for a while. I hope you, Allura, will be able to find this in my room. I am using the last of my power to teleport it back to the castle. Be safe Allura. Please be safe.'

Linna looks up towards the stars again as she continues to cry. She remembers the torture, the pain, and the heartache. Linna looks at the two marks that stain her body right now. She knows it is almost time.

"Be safe Allura." Linna whispers as she closes her eyes and falls asleep. "I will protect you."

The ship just follows the corridinates that Linna put in at the begin. Linna places her hands on her journals as they disappear from her pod and reappear in her bedroom waiting to be read by Allura.

**Castle: End of the Day**

Coran runs into the hangar with happiness in his voice. "We got our lenses!"

"Excellent! Now, we can get the teludav up and running." Allura says with excitement as her hair is a complete disaster but she loves it so that's all that matters.

"Where's Shiro?" Keith wonders as he looks around. "And Linna?"

The opens up immediately after he says that to Shiro walking into the main corridor. Everyone stares at him as he walks in very quietly and silent.

"What did you do? Take a nap?" Allura wonders to him.

"Not exactly?" Shiro says with a smirk as he crosses his arms over his chest. He turns his head to see the cow, staring at him. "Is that a cow?"

"Mm-hmm, his name is Kaltenecker." Lance states proudly to Shiro.

"So, did you find a way to bond with your lion?" Keith wonders to Shiro as Pidge looks over the room for Linna still.

"Yes, and we need to get moving. We're heading for the Blade of Marmora's headquarters." Shiro informs the group.

"I'll plot a course." Coran says as he runs towards his spot.

"Wait?" Pidge wonders as she looks around again. "Where is Linna?"

"She should still be here." Allura says as she walks up to her pedestal.

As she places her hands on the pillars, Linna's face appears to show everyone. She smirks at the group as she begins talking with her room being the background.

"Hi, everyone. If you are seeing this, it means that you are trying to see where I am. I am sorry to inform you but I am not on the castle at this moment in time. I have to go somewhere before the battle with Zarkon begins. I will be in touch with you when I can. I hope you can forgive me, Allura, Pidge. I am really sorry about this. It is just..."

Linna stops talking on the video recording. "I have to met with someone." Linna takes a deep breath after saying that. "I really don't want to see them, but it can not be helped since I made a promise. Anyway, Allura..." Linna stares at Allura in this part of the recording. "I want you to do something. It is only for you to read and no one else. Because make sure that you follow that rule. I don't want anyone else to see that side of me."

Linna pulls a journal on the screen to show Allura. "There are several journals in my room. Only four of them have numbers on them. I want you to read them all the way through. I understand that you will want to explain to everyone about the information in the book; however, this information is just for you. You are the only one that can see it. Please understand that rule for me."

Linna smirks at the group now, trying to hide her tears that have formed in her eyes. "I will be back right before the battle with Zarkon. I believe in all of you. You are so strong, and I am happy that the lions are being piloted by you. Protect them for me, please."

Linna's face disappears from the screen and everyone stares with no expression on their faces. They are shocked at what they just heard and saw. Pidge looks over to Allura who has fallen on her knees in shock.

"Allura..." Everyone speaks her name when she gets up and walks out of the corridor.

Allura walks in front of Linna's room before the door opens to her. She looks at the several journals scattered on the ground. She walks over towards the books as she places her hand on the one with the numerical one on it. She slowly opens it to begin reading the pages that Linna so desperately wanted her to read. Allura only gets through the first book while crying her eyes out because of the mention of her father as well as the day her father died. Linna had watched it happen and Allura couldn't help by feel all of her emotions attack her at once.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I know that it has been a few days, but I finally had some time to write this chapter. Again, I am a college student so chapters will be scattered for when I update. So, I hope you guys are enjoying the book. Please comment and Review.

**Episode: "Stayin' Alive"**

**The Castle:**

Allura sits on the middle stand of her control panel. She is waiting with the mice for her arrival at the Balmera. She is also waiting for her to contact them. She and the mice are playing Charades together. Suddenly, a call comes into the castle. Allura stands up on the podium to see Linna on the video com.

"Hey Allura!" She says to her friend over the com.

Allura stops for a moment and stares at her friend that has been gone for so long now. Allura just stares at her for a moment, but she can't tell where she is by the background. The background is completely white from Allura's view.

"Allura?" Linna tilts her head towards her with confusion.

"Linna..." Allura states with shock in her voice towards her friend.

"I am sorry that I haven't called since I left." Linna rubs the back of her neck towards Allura. "I have been training a lot, and it is really hard to find a signal here."

Allura notices some blue/black bruises that mark her arms. Allura wants to say something but Linna covers them up so Allura doesn't mention it. Linna smiles over the screen as she stares at the castle in the background.

"How are you?" Allura finally speaks a sentence to her friend.

Linna smiles at Allura with that question. "I am doing great. I have improved my skills so I am able to head back to the Castle if that is okay." Linna stops speaking at the thought of not being able to go back to the Castle.

"Yes," Allura answers her with a smile now upon her face. "You can come back. I miss you so much. Pidge misses you as well."

Linna chuckles at the mention of Pidge. "She is probably mad at me." Linna looks up to Allura in the eyes now. "So were you able to read the journals?"

Allura lowers her head at the thought of the journals. She takes a deep breath because she hasn't had the energy to read the last one. Number 4. She looks up to Linna with a smile before speaking to her.

"I have one more to read." Allura answers her.

"That one..." Linna whispers in almost fear to her. "I would have hoped that you would have read it already before allowing me back on the Castle."

"What do you mean?" Allura questions to her. "Please Come Back to the Castle! The Lions miss you! I miss you! Come back Linna!" Allura tries to order her politely. "Please."

Linna lowers her eyes to the ground when she answers Allura this time. "I should be there soon. I have the coordinates of the Castle in my ship. See you soon Allura."

The video cuts off at that. Allura stares at the screen when Coran's face appears in front of her. She doesn't even realize it so Coran begins the conversation.

"Allura?" Coran speaks to her. "Are you awake?"

Allura snaps out of her daze when she hears Coran's voice come through her ears. "Sorry." Allura turns to face him. "I am here."

"Good," Coran smiles towards her. "How are you, Princess? Are you almost at the Balmera?"

Allura keeps her calm face towards him. "I'm scheduled to arrive in just a few doboshes. I hope I'm able to find a crystal big enough for the teludav."

"Have you heard from the other paladins?" Coran wonders her as she appears to have smile now upon her face.

"I had contact with Lance, Shiro, and Pidge a little bit ago. They've located Slav." Allura informs him.

"What about Hunk and- and Keith?" Coran asks her about the other two.

"No word from them yet." Allura lowers her tone in worry.

"I have no doubt my scientifically accurate instructional video was of great help." Coran smirks while rubbing one of the ends of his mustache as he says that.

"I'm sure it was." Allura says with a disappointed look on her face. "If they collect enough scaultrite for the lenses, will your teludav structure be complete?"

"It's nearly done. The Olkari and I have been working on it day and night. It will be ready in time." Coran informs her.

"Oh, I hope so." Allura says to him with a sigh.

"What's going on, Princess? You sound worried." Coran wonders to her with worry now in his voice over the screen.

"I was thinking of my father. He gave his life to try to keep Voltron out of Zarkon's hands and now we have a chance to defeat him. I... I don't want to fail." Allura tells Coran with her eyes lowers towards the ground in fear.

"You know... Princess, your father would be proud of you. It wasn't that long ago we found out Altea had been destroyed, and Linna was with your father until the end." Coran speaks her with his fatherly tone again.

"I've never felt so alone." Allura lands on her knees now.

"Nor have I. And we could have easily given up. But we didn't. You didn't. And now look at us. We reformed Voltron. We freed the Olkari and the Balmerans, and now they're working alongside us." Coran speaks to her with confidence in his voice.

"You're right, Coran. We have allies. And that's what's going to defeat Zarkon. Oh!" Allura realizes that she hasn't told her about Linna. "I just talked with Linna as well."

"What?" Coran sounds shocked at the mention of her name. "How is she?"

"She says that she is fine. She will be here soon." Allura informs him. "She wants me to read the last journal though before she arrives."

"Allura," Coran lowers his tone to a fatherly voice. "If she wants you too, you should do it."

"I will after this mission. I am just happy to hear from her." Allura crosses her arms around her chest in a worried way towards Coran. "But Coran," Allura stops for a moment at the remembrance of the bruises that marked her body. "she didn't look good from the video."

"What do you mean Princess?" Coran wonders her with worry now in his tone as well.

"She has bruises that mark her body. She doesn't look healthy at all. It looks like she was being mistreated." Allura tells him with worry.

"Well," Coran remembers her last video. "She said that she didn't want to be there."

"Then why did she go?" Allura raises her voice towards him before lowering it back to him.

"Maybe she had a reason that she will tell us soon." Coran answers her.

"Maybe..." Allura says to him as she looks up to see that she is at the Balmera. "I will talk to you later Coran."

"Alright, Princess. Crack a squizzle on the Balmera." Coran says to her with his hand upon his head in saluting position.

"Thank you, Coran." Allura says to him with a smile upon her face.

**Balmera: After the Battle**

Voltron stands in the middle of space with their sword stabbed within the monster. They float there when the monster falls and explodes in front of them. Finally, Allura speaks over the intercoms.

"Great work, Paladins. Now return to the Castle so we can get back to Olkarion."

Allura hears the doors open behind her when she finishes saying that. She turns to see Linna standing there between the doorway. Slav lays upon the desk of Coran typing his fingers away like he is bored. Allura stares at her in the doorway, ignoring the tapping of the keys. Allura notices the long sleeves that cover Linna's whole body. She doesn't want anyone to see something.

"Linna..."

"Hi, Allura." Linna says to her friend as they embrace each other with a hug. "I missed you so much."

"Me too." Allura says to her friend before Slav interrupts the moment.

"Why is there a grand entrance on the 40th floor? And what's with all the ziplines? You have hover technology."

"Hello, Slav." Linna chuckles when she hears his annoying voice.

"Is that you Linna?" Slav wonders as he turns to see her standing before him. "I thought you died. How did you get out?"

"That's for another time." Linna whispers to him in response.

The door opens behind them again when the rest of the team walks into the main hangar. They all stop for a moment when they see Linna standing there before them. She lowers her head towards them though with disappointment.

"Um..." Linna says with a wave towards them. "I am back."

"Linna!" Pidge runs towards her and gives her hug. "You're back."

"Hi, Pidge." Linna states with a little flinch in her arms and legs. "It is great to see you."

"Where have you been?" Shiro wonders to her with a questioning look on his face.

"I have been with a friend. He is helping me with training." Linna informs them.

"Oh! So you are talking about that friend." Slav speaks to her. "You know that he shouldn't be in this reality. He needs to do 10 jumping jacks to keep this reality from going berserk."

"Slav." Linna turns to him with an annoyed look on her face. "This is the other friend that you don't know about."

"That sounds interesting." Slav turns and stands before her now. "I know basically all of your friends now."

"That's not true." Linna crosses her arms when Pidge leaves her side since Slav is so annoying. "In this reality you don't."

"Yes I do." Slav argues to her.

"No you don't. Because he is only part of this reality." Linna blurts out to him.

"He can't only be part of this reality unless..." Slav stares at her for a moment. "He is..." Slav looks at her again before shrugging it off when he realizes who she is talking about. "Oh! That one."

"You're so annoying Slav." Linna tells him with a slap to her face. "How did I survive again?"

"You did exactly as I told you." Slav answers her when he goes back to the keyboard.

Linna turns to stare at the others in the main hangar again. "What?"

"You know Slav?" Shiro asks her with a questioning look again.

"Of course she does." Slav yells towards them. "We were in the same prison together."

"Slav!" Linna shouts at him. "I didn't tell them that!"

"If you didn't, the chances of your survival in this reality will be 5%." Slav informs her but she just growls at him.

"Slav." Linna states to him in anger. "What did I tell you about me not caring about my percentage of survival in this reality?"

"That you didn't care because you were going to no longer exist in this reality once your mission is complete." Slav answers Linna with the most information in one sentence that she didn't want to hear.

"What does he mean by that?" Pidge asks Linna, turning her attention back to the group.

"Slav and I were in a Galra prison together." Linna sighs at the response and memories of the experience. She turns to look at Allura now. "That is why I wanted you to read the last journal before allowing me to return here."

"So you were a prisoner!" Allura states to her with worry. "How did you escape? Why didn't you tell me this?"

"Allura..." Linna lowers her tone of voice. "I have no memory of how I escape. That is why I left. I had to see someone that would help aid in my memories recovering process."

"And did it work?" Keith wonders to her now as he is still trying to recover his childhood memories.

"To a degree." Linna states to him before looking at the rest of the group. "I have one mission in this reality. And that one mission is the reason that I am still here. Once the mission is complete, I really have no idea what will happen to me."

"What do you mean?" Allura wonders to her.

"That's what I have been trying to figure out since I met her." Slav interrupts Allura. "She is different from the rest of us."

"I am not different." Linna states back to Slav. "I am an Altean just like Allura and Coran. I just have a mission. I don't understand you Slav."

"I don't understand you as well which is why I am shocked that you are still alive." Slav answers her with an interesting look on his face. "According to my calculation, you should be dead."

"What?" Everyone yells with question.

"Thanks Slav. That makes me feel great." Linna tells him as she looks at the Paladins. "I am going to head to my room. I don't feel well."

"Wait!" "Alright, see you soon." Allura interrupts Shiro before he stops Linna from leaving the room.

"Why did you do that?" Shiro asks Allura when Linna has successfully left.

"You noticed it as well." Salv speaks again to Allura.

"Noticed what?" Lance and Keith say at the same time.

"The bruises that mark her body. The poor fatigue in her face. She has been suffering for a while." Allura states to them when Slav lowers his head towards her.

"I remember her in the prison. She would get locked up so much that she could survive weeks without anything to drink or food to eat. She would stay to herself unless it was with me. I was the only one she talked to unless you count her dreams." Slav says to the Paladins.

"What do you mean by her dreams?" Hunk wonders to what Slav says.

"I remember her crying in her sleep, and it was about the same dream. I know its the same one because when she woke up, she would scream in terror and the guards would grab her to see Zarkon." Slav informs them. "Her dreams are very powerful. They allow her to see different realities some how."

"How do you know that?" Pidge questions Slav.

"Because she showed me before." Slav answers them.

"What?" They all say to him.

"How?" Keith asks him. "What was it about?"

"I am not to talk about it anymore." Slav answers them back when he resumes back to his typing. "If I were to tell you, the chances of her survival will be 0%. The chances of all of your survivals will be 5%."

"What?" Everyone says again and try to get Slav to explain it to them.

Slav ignores them after he says that last part though. He just lets them beginning talking about the lenses and returning back to Olkarion. He understands that Linna didn't want them to know, but he also doesn't want her to suffer through the reality that he witnessed when she showed him.

Linna's room:

She walks into the room with exhaustion on her face. She looks at the journals that scatter the room again. She shakes her head towards them before falling upon her bed. She looks at the picture upon her stand once more before falling asleep. She knows what nightmare will roam her dreams tonight. She will be ready for the battle to come.

"Please don't die Shiro when you face Zarkon. Please don't." Linna whispers to herself without realizing it before passing out in her sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I hope you all are enjoying the chapters. Please Comment and Review! I love hearing from people on how the story is going in their own thoughts.

**Episodes: "Best Laid Plans" and "Blackout" **

**Olkarion:**

Allura and Linna stand before the giant Teledav before them. Linna looks over to see a disappointing face upon Allura as Keith walks over towards the group. Linna shakes her head at her friend for a moment before speaking.

"I remember," Linna starts out as Allura turns to face her friend, who is staring at the sun rising from the horizon. "When I hated Zarkon so much that I almost stopped him from piloting the Black Lion."

"Why didn't you?" Allura wonders to her as Linna knows that she has her friends attention.

"Because Alfor trusted him." Linna lowers her head to face Allura with a smirk. "Keith can't help where his other half comes from. He also can't help that Galena attacked our planet and destroyed it. It isn't the Galra's fault. You do know that, Allura?"

Allura lowers her head. "I just feel like I can't trust him anymore."

"What has changed since you found out that he is Galra?" Linna places her hands on her hips now in front of Allura.

"I don't believe anything has." Allura states to her as she looks up to her friends eyes.

"Are you going to treat me like that now that you know, I was a Galra prisoner?" Linna wonders to her.

"No!" Allura exclaims to her friend. "You are my best Friend!"

"Keith is your teammate and a part of this Family." Linna replies back to Allura that causes her to pause at that statement. "Think about that and go talk to him when you get the chance."

Linna smirks at her friend before walking away as everyone appears before Allura for the finally speech. They are waiting for her to signal the start of battle towards all of their allies that have come together to help in the aid of this plan.

Linna smirks once again before heading to the Castle of Lions. She slowly passes the other paladins as they walk over towards Allura. Keith glances back her for a second before heading towards Allura. Linna smiles at his stop of motion while she enters the Castle of Lions. She heads to the lions hangar where it is empty as she senses something.

"I know..." She whispers to herself when she hears his call. "I know..."

She walks out of the hangar and back to the main hall. She sees Allura and everyone else coming up to the castle as she sits in Shiro's spot. Allura appears in the main hall when she smiles at her friend. Shiro appears on the screen now.

"Princess, we are go for launch." He states to her.

"Charging main Turbine." Allura informs him as she prepares to lift the castle with the Paladins.

The Castle lifts off the ground as Linna watches everyone disappear from their sight. She knows what is going to happen, and her heart is slowly starting to ache at the thought. She glances over to her wrists where her Altean marks glow under her wrapping.

"I know..." She whispers to them as she looks over to Allura with a smile on her face.

The doors soon open up to the rest of the Paladins walking through the doors. They all smile and have energy built up in their systems for this fight against Zarkon. Linna gets up from Shiro's chair as everyone gathers around the main system in the middle.

"All right, guys, listen up." Shiro announces when everyone is around him. "I'll use the Black lion to lure Zarkon's fleet to our current location and make sure he's within the teludav's area of effect. Keeping the Teludav hidden behind the space-fold until the last possible second is essential. We can count on you, right, Slav?"

"Absolutely. I'll be fine. If not, Linna is here to help me out." Slav states to them but before Linna can get a word in Slav begins again. "I'm not sure about the gravity generator, though."

"What? What was that last thing?" Hunk questions with panic enters his voice already.

"Hiding a ship is one thing, but I've never had to build a gravity generator for something this large before. Have you Linna?" Slav glances over in her direction.

"Maybe once." Linna states to him as she recalls a memory. "But it doesn't matter because it won't hold the covering for very long."

"Correct." Slav agrees with Linna.

"Well, that's a risk we'll have to take." Shiro states to the group. "Once Zarkon's ship is in position, Kolivan and Antok will coordinate with Thace. Together, they'll take down Zarkon's security system and upload the virus."

"And then, he'll be sitting du-flax." Pidge states to the group, trying to make them laugh but no one does. "What? A du-flax is an Altean creature with a beak and webbed feet."

Coran then jumps into the conversation, literally. "We'll wormhole Zarkon 500 million light years away, and he'll be in the Yggiz Galaxy before he knows what's hit him!"

"What about Thace?" Shiro wonders to his team members.

"He should be getting into position now. We received his last communication three quintants ago. We should here from him soon." Kolivan tells them.

"Let's do it." Shiro states to the rest of the group.

Everyone breaks as Shiro heads to the Hangar. Linna sneaks out towards the hangar as well right behind Shiro. Shiro finally stops when he reaches the Black Lion and turns to face her.

"Is there something wrong?" He asks her.

"No..." Linna quickly answers him. "I am just worried that something will go wrong."

"What do you mean?" Shiro wonders to her.

"Well," Linna looks over towards the lions. "They sense something. I sense it too, but I don't know what it is. I know something is going to happen. I think it's because we are luring Zarkon with you and the Black Lion as bait." Linna states to him. "I don't know. I just don't want anything to happen to anyone."

Shiro shakes his head towards her and places his hand on her shoulder. "Nothing is going to happen to any of us. We are all going to be safe and return home soon."

Shiro walks into the Black lion before taking off. Linna stares at the opening in the hangar with sadness in her expression. The lion's lower their heads towards her.

"Something bad is going to happen. It is going to happen to you." Linna whispers to the air before looking up towards the lions for guidance. "And I can't stop it."

**Zarkon and the Teludav are face to face: **

Linna stands in the hangar when Slav's panic voice comes over the intercom.

"Uh, everyone, the gravity generator won't maintain power much longer. If it goes down, we're just going to be uncloaked in open space."

"Do all you can. We just need to hold out a little longer." Shiro replies back.

Linna shakes her head as she runs towards the main hall. She needs to be with Allura if anything happens. Linna walks into the main hangar as she sees Zarkon ship before them. Suddenly, lights begin flashes red in the Castle.

"Oh, I hate it when I'm right." Slav's voice comes through the coms. "The gravity generator just lost power! Now there's no reality where we all get out alive!"

"Slav! Don't you dare say that!" Linna unexpectedly yells at him.

"But there isn't!" Slav whines to her.

"I don't care! Everyone will survive and that's finally!" Linna orders to him when the ship appears before Zarkon's ship uncovered.

"Princess, the teludav is completely exposed!" Coran announces to them.

Everyone is quiet in the main hangar as they all wait. Wait for Keith to make it out alive. Linna closes her eyes and focuses on the power within her. She can sense Keith. He is almost there.

"We cannot wait any longer. I'm powering the teludav now!" Allura states as she begins to activate the teludav.

Linna listens and feels her power growing within her. She opens her eyes to another Altean mark appearing on her skin above the other one on her right hand. Suddenly an explosion appears and Linna senses the Red lion awaking for Keith.

"Keith is out!" Linna states to the group when they see the Red Lion out of the hangar.

Allura finally gets the Teludav activated fully as Zarkon's ship slowly goes into the Wormhole. Linna walks over to Allura and sees the struggle. Allura suddenly falls to the ground, causing Linna to catch her before she hits the ground. Coran looks back to see Allura in Linna's arms. Coran runs over and takes her out of Linna's.

Shiro appears on the screen before speaking, "Coran, How's Allura?"

"She's weak, but okay." Coran answers Shiro.

"You take care of her. We got it from here." Shiro states to Coran.

They appears out of the wormhole finally as the Paladins begin to form Voltron. Linna stares out into the open space as fear and ache hits her heart. She knows what is coming. She looks over towards Coran then back in the space.

"Coran, go take Allura to her room." Linna tells him.

"What?" Coran wonders to her.

"She is weak and needs to rest. Go. I will take over for the Castle System." Linna informs him.

"Are you sure?" Coran wonders to her.

"Yeah." Linna whispers to him as he carries Allura to the her room. "I hope I can..."

Linna stares at Zarkon's ship with worry on her face. She senses Zarkon coming for them. He wants the Black Lion. Linna watches as the Paladins start to destroy Zarkon's ship. Linna places her hands on the Teludav's main system pillars before talking to the paladins.

"Everyone be careful! Zarkon is coming!" Linna informs them.

Linna senses something powerful coming from the ship when she sees a black orb appear at the end of Zarkon's ship. Her marks start to scream in agony on her wrists as Coran and Allura appear in the main hall again. Allura sees Linna in pain so she runs over towards her.

"Linna!" Allura yells to her friend.

"Get out of there Paladins!" Linna screams through Allura's arms. "Get out of there Now!"

The black orb fires towards Voltron as Linna screams in panic. She feels her body begin to glow a white color for a second before going to normal. Voltron teleport out of the way unexpectedly, barely missing the shot as Allura and everyone look at Linna, sweating all over her body.

"Linna?" Allura wonders to her friend of what just happened.

"Paladins..." Linna whispers to them. "You have to not get hit by one of those. It is dark magic that will take away the quintessence from Voltron. I am not going to be able to do that again so don't get hit. If you get hit, I will suffer from the hit as well!"

"What do you mean?" Shiro wonders to her.

"I am bonded to the lions just like you five. I will be affected just the same." Linna informs them still out of breath from her save.

"Why didn't you tell us this?" Allura and Coran wonder to her with panic in their voices.

"Because I didn't think that I would need too do this." Linna whispers to them in return.

"So what can we do?" Lance yells through the com.

"Don't get hit, Idiot!" Linna orders him in return.

"Alright." Shiro answers back to her.

"That's easier said then done." Hunk replies before Linna watches another black orb appear.

"Watch out!" Linna yells at them but it is too late.

All they hear in the main hall over the mics is the Paladins screaming in agony while Linna joins them. Allura releases Linna from her arms as she rolls on the ground screaming with the Paladins. A black substance covers Linna for a moment as she screams in pain. Coran and the others stare at Voltron and Linna with pain in their expression. Soon, everything goes quiet over the line and no one is speaking. Linna is no longer covered in the black substance as well as Voltron floating in space with no power.

"Paladins?" Allura states to the mics.

Linna lays on the ground unconscious as Coran picks up Linna and places her in Keith's chair. Allura yells into the mic over and over again. She wants the Paladins to answer her.

"Zarkon must have completed his work on a way to take away the quintessence from planets." Kolivan says to the group. "He must have succeeded."

"If is destroys planets, what did it do to the paladins?" Coran wonders as everyone looks over towards Linna as well as Voltron just floating outside.

"Paladins! Shiro! Can you hear me!" Allura screams in the mics.

Statics comes through for a moment before a voice appears over the coms. "Yes, Princess. We're alive." Shiro replies to her. "How's Linna?"

"She is out conscious still. A black ora formed over her like it did to Voltron. So we don't know the main affect it had on her." Allura answers Shiro.

"Well, thank the ancients that you are all okay!" Coran says to them.

"Is Voltron operational?" Allura wonders to the Paladins.

"It's not working." Hunk says in a lot of pain.

Keith breaks through with a grunt. "I can't move my lion."

"You've been hit with some kind of witchcraft that draws the quintessence out of you." Coran examples to them, adding on to what Linna told them. "You need to get out of there! Another blast like that and you may bot survive!" Coran orders them.

"Wait. What's that?" Lance wonders to the group.

The door on Zarkon's ship opens up slowly before them. Zarkon appears before the paladins in his battle suit. Everyone stares at him with panic and fear upon their faces. Linna slowly starts to get up from the ground with pain echoing in her head. She listens to Allura yelling at the Paladins.

"You must get moving. Remember your training. Remember all the battles you've been through."

"Voltron's still not responding." Shiro responds back to her. "It's Zarkon."

"Paladins." Linna speaks now through the mics as Allura runs to her.

"You're okay." Allura states but Linna stops her from going near her.

"You are bonded deeply with each of your lions. I know that you all were meant to win this battle for the people. Close your eyes and talk with your lions. Listen to them and help them gain the energy they need to continue fighting in this battle. You are Paladins of Voltron and believe in your ability to win." Linna tells them as she slowly gets up from the ground.

Her body marks up and down with the power of dark magic surrounding her. She glances down to see the markings. Linna walks up to the pillars for the Castle.

"Coran... We have to by them time. Get us closer to Zarkon. Divert all power to our weapon system." Linna tells him.

"Linna..." Allura and Coran speak with concern in their voices.

"Please Coran. Allura. We have to by them time." Linna states to them as she slowly places her hands over the pillars.

"We are going to be defenseless!" Coran tries to warn them.

"Linna..." Allura whispers to her friend.

"Leave that to me." Linna says in reply.

Linna closes her eyes as she senses the Castle moving closer to Zarkon. She opens her eyes to the black magic covering her body and slowly making its way to the pillars. Linna watches Zarkon flying towards Voltron as the Castle follows behind.

"Be the Paladins are know you are! You are Voltron!" Linna yells before she focuses all of her power on the weapon shot towards Zarkon. "I believe in you all! Now Fire!"

The Castle sends all of the black magic that Linna has in her body out against Zarkon. The beam is kinked out from Zarkon as Linna screams, sending the beam upon Zarkon. The paladins watch with Allura and Coran as the Castle fires upon Zarkon. Allura turns to see Linna's whole body glowing with markings that stain her skin. They are Altean markings, but she can't recognize them. Linna screams in agony as she drops to her knees but her hands still are on the pillars, sending all of her power to the castle. Zarkon finally bends the beam back as it rams into the castle.

"AH!" Linna screams when a flash of light appears on the Castle.

"LINNA!" Allura, Coran, and the Paladins yell in response when the Castle is flown back away from the battle.

Everything is silent for a moment. Allura runs to Linna who was flown back into the wall by the burst of power. Coran struggles to the control to inform the paladins that they are alright. Allura pulls Linna to her chest as she watching the marks disappear from her body. Coran looks back at Linna and Allura.

"Princess..." Coran whispers with concern in his voice.

"She is okay. I believe..." Allura replies to him as Linna lays in her chest.

Slav slowly opens the doors as he asks them, "Did we win yet?"

Allura shakes her head before coming up with an idea. "Coran, you and Slav do what you can to get the Castle functioning again. Kolivan, can you get me to the Komar?" Allura wonders to him.

"It will be dangerous, but I know a way." Kolivan answers her.

"You and Antok come with me." Allura orders them as she heads towards the doors. "We're going to have to attack the witch directly if we hope to stop that thing." Allura tells them as she reaches the door. "Coran, the bridge is yours. Make sure Linna is okay."

"You've been weakened by operating the teludav, Princess." Coran tries to fight with her.

"I have to do something Coran. I have to make sure that everyone makes it out of here just like Linna said we would." Allura answers him before floating out the doors.

"Princess!" Coran yells but she is out of the door already.

"Where is Linna?" Slav wonders to Coran when he sees her floating unconscious. "So she used that power."

"What power?" Coran asks Slav what he means by that.

"Nothing." Slav answers Coran when he gets back to trying to fix the Castle systems.

**Castle is back online: **

"We're back!" Coran yells with happiness. "Hello, Paladins!"

"Yeah! You're alive!" The paladins reply to Coran with joy in their voices.

"Is everyone okay?" Shiro wonders to Coran.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry guys!" Slav answers first.

"Oh, great. Slav made it." Lance mutters with disappointment.

"Linna is out conscious right now. Everyone else is fine though." Coran informs the paladins. "The power on Zarkon's ship is returning! We need to get out of here! I'm going to get Allura!"

Linna suddenly wakes up to stare at Zarkon having a hold of Voltron's head. She feels the pain in her chest at that moment. She can sense it. Voltron's sword suddenly lights with fire within Zarkon. Linna stops breathing when her heart stops beating for a moment. The paladins scream over the intercom when Linna yells in return.

"SHIRO!"

Coran looks back at Linna who is crying on the ground. The lions are floating in space now. Allura and Kolivan walk into the hangar as Allura tries to run to Linna. She notices something is wrong.

"Linna..." Allura whispers to her.

"He's gone. He's gone..." Linna replies to her with tears falling down her cheeks. "He promised."

"I have Allura and Kolivan. We need to go!" Coran informs the paladins.

"Princess, we are all on board." Pidge tells them.

Allura opens up a wormhole to get them out of there. Linna gets up in a struggle as she darts out of the hangar. She enters the Lion's hangar with Keith running to the black lion. She stops before the lion as Keith enters the lion. Everyone passing Linna before they enter the Black Lion.

"He's gone..." Linna whispers as she falls to her knees with Coran behind her when he hears what she says.

"What do you mean?" Coran wonders what she is talking about.

"Shiro is gone." Linna answers him when she watches him run towards the Black lion as well. "I told him that something was going to happen. I told him."

Everyone stands in the black lion as they wonder what could have happened to Shiro. He just vanished out of no where and no one knows where he is.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I hope you all are having a great week. I am having an interesting one. But anyway, hope you are enjoying the story! Please comment and review! Love ya!**

Episode: "Changing of the Guard" and "Red Paladin"

Linna stands in the hangar, staring at the Black lion. She feels the pain swelling up inside of her as she remembers what Shiro told her. He said that nothing was going to happen. Everyone was going to make it out of the battle alive. She glances over towards the empty space where the Red lion should be. She knows that Keith is out searching for him.

Linna turns towards the Black lion again when she senses something within the Black lion. She walks over and places a hand on the lions head when her mind appears before Shiro.

"What happen?" Shiro states to Linna.

"Shiro..." Linna looks around the world that she is in and realizes what has happened. "You not really here."

"What is going on Linna?" Shiro asks her with panic in his voice.

"Your soul is within the Black lion." Linna states to him with tears forming in her eyes. "You body is gone, but your mind is here."

"What do you mean?" Shiro wonders to Linna.

"It means that you are dead in the real world." Linna tells him when she runs to him and wraps her arms around him. "You're dead."

"This can't be." Shiro speaks with shock in his voice as he wraps his arms around Linna. "How am I able to see you here then?"

"I am connected to the lions are a very spiritual and personal level. The Black lion must have wanted me to know that you are here for some reason." Linna informs him.

"How are the others?" Shiro questions to Linna when they release in their hug.

"They aren't good. Keith is wondering the galaxy trying to find you." Linna informs him. "I am going to somehow have to explain this to everyone."

"Linna..." Shiro whispers to her with a serious tone in his voice now.

"Yes," Linna looks at Shiro in the eyes as she wonders if she could bring him back somehow.

"I don't want you to tell anyone about this." Shiro states to her with his serious fatherly voice.

"Why?" Linna says to him with confusing in her voice. "They need to know that you are gone for good."

"Linna..." Shiro glances around him. "How are you going to explain this?"

"I have to tell them that you are dead Shiro." Linna tries to fight with him. "They need to know."

"Linna, do this for me. I don't want them worrying more. I want them to live, and I want Keith to take over for Voltron. I know that he is a great leader. He needs this moment to show that he has the power to lead." Shiro explains to Linna before she lowers her face towards him. "Can you do that for me?"

Linna shakes her head towards him before glancing up to him with even more tears down her face to him. "I told you that something was going to happen." She cries out towards him. "I told you that something bad was going to happen and you just ignored me. You said everything was going to be okay."

"Everything will be alright."

"Look what happened to you! Look where you are at!" Linna screams at him with the tears hitting the ground. "You are dead!"

"Linna..." Shiro whispers her name before she opens her eyes to the hangar again.

"Shiro..." She whispers when Red appears through the doors.

Linna looks up to the Red lion before turning away and walking out of the hangar. Keith leaves the lion but stops to watch Linna run out the doors with tears in her eyes. He lowers his head to the floor before looking up towards the Black lion.

Linna walks through the halls when she remembers that the leaders are coming to meet with the paladins and Allura. Linna really didn't want to go to the meeting so she declined the offer. Linna heads towards her room and lays on her bed. She has to rest after that battle with Zarkon. She looks at her markings that have doubled since the last time she looked at them.

"I know my time is coming." Linna whispers when she hears his call. "I know that I used to much energy during that last battle."

She listens to him inform her of the limits of their powers here. Linna understands what he is trying to say to her, but she had to do something. She had to try and save them.

"Will he be alright?" Linna wonders to him. "I mean his soul is trapped until Allura takes it out when she gains that knowledge."

He doesn't really answer her for that question. All he does is stay silent in her presence. Linna sighs with disappointment as she rolls over in her bed. She understands why he went silent. She just didn't want that answer. Linna closes her eyes to her heart slowly beating as she remembers her past in her dreams.

**Linna's past:**

Linna walks through the wall of the great White Lion. She senses his power of life and death. She opens her eyes to Oriande before her. She remembers what Alfor told her about the Lion.

"Welcome..." The White lion appears before Linna. "You are different from others that have come here."

"You are something that I have never seen or heard of before." Linna replies to him.

"I see that you seek for something that has been lost to you." The White lion tells her with concern in his voice.

"I seek for someone." Linna answers him. "I watched them die before my eyes. I want to find them again."

"That can not be possible unless." The White stares into Linna's eyes. "I see."

"Yes." Linna answers him because she knows that the White lion can see through her disguise. "Will you help me?"

"I don't know." The White lion steps a side from her. "I want to see if you will pass my test before I will agree to anything."

"Alright." Linna agrees to his terms as she walks into the temple with determination in her expression.

Linna soon walks out of the temple with the power of the Alchemists for Altea. The White lion bows before her with respect as he sees that she has completed his challenge.

"I will help you with your journey. However, you don't have the time of the world on your side." The White lion informs her. "Those markings on your body are from the real you, as you grow more will appear. The more you are with the person that you want to save, the faster they will appear as well."

"I understand." Linna tells him. "As long as they don't die in my arms again."

"I can not promise that, but I can aid in helping you see them for as long as you can." The White lion walks over towards Linna before placing his head upon hers. "Please remember this talk. I don't want to see you in anymore pain."

"Thank you."

**End of Linna's Past:**

Linna wakes up to someone knocking on her door. She slowly gets up to see another mark that has a appeared on her chest this time. She covers them up before opening the door to Keith anger but sad at the same time.

"Keith..." Linna whispers to him with concern in her voice as he stands there, quietly before her.

"Can we talk?" Keith wonders to her with worrying in his voice.

Linna walks out of her room as the door shuts behind her. "Sure."

"Come on." Keith says to her as he guides her towards the Lions' hangar.

"I thought the big meeting is today." Linna says to him as they enter the hangar. "Isn't?"

"Yeah," He states to her.

"You can't miss that you know." Linna replies to his response.

"It is in a few hours." Keith informs her. "I want to talk to you about something."

"What is it?" Linna wonders to him as the stop in front of the Black lion.

"Do you think he is still out there?"

Linna stops breathing for a moment. She looks towards the Black lion as she remembers what she promised to Shiro just this morning. She lowers her gaze before speaking to Keith.

"What do you think?"

"I believe that he is. He is out there, waiting for us to find him." Keith states to her.

"Then he is out there." Linna agrees with him even though she knows other wise.

"Then why does Allura want us to get another pilot to pilot the Black lion?" Keith wonders ot Linna as she looks up towards him now.

"Allura wants to replace Shiro?"

"She says that we need to form Voltron so we have to think about changing the role of our leader to someone else." Keith states to Linna. "It's like she already believes that he is dead."

"Keith..." Linna places a hand on his shoulder. "I want you to think about something."

"What?" Keith turns to face Linna now.

"I want you to think about what would happen if Voltron didn't form? I want you to think about the universe just like Shiro did before you bond with one another."

"What are talking about?" Keith starts to get anger and backs away from Linna for a moment. "Shiro is alive."

"I know!" Linna yells at him with tears developing in her eyes. She looks up towards the Black lion before looking back to Keith. "But... I want you to remember that the Galra are still out there. I want you to think about one question. Because I will never stop looking for him."

"What is the question?"

"What would Shiro do if you were the one missing?" Linna states to him before walking towards the hangar down and stopping as they open. "If we change who the leader is, then I will continue the search for Shiro."

Linna walks out of the door as she leaves Keith to his thoughts. She darts towards her room once again before running into Pidge. Pidge and Linna both fall to the ground after the impact of each other.

"Linna?" Pidge wonders when she sees the tears in her eyes.

"I am fine, Pidge. I just need to go lay down." Linna informs her as she gets up quickly and closes her room door before locking it.

Linna places her back against the door while her body slides down the frame with her hands covering her face. Tears continue to travel down her cheeks as she stares at the journals that lay in her room. She falls to her butt when her knees pull close to her chest. Linna lays her head against the door while she remembers the person she wants to stay with lays in her arms again. She remembers them dying in her arms as her heart stopped beating at the memory. Linna closes her eyes to the memory before as her heart aches with agony.

"I can't have that happen to me again." Linna whispers to herself as she stays there in silence with pain in her heart.

**Next Day:**

Linna walks to the Lions' hangar after eating breakfast to think. She had that same nightmare last night. She sees his face but has no idea what his name is. Linna walks over towards the Black lion to see if she can talk with Shiro once again, but the lion won't let her in.

"Come on!" Linna whines to her. "I don't understand this nightmare."

The Black lion stays quiet in response to her. Linna crosses her arms over her chest when she senses the other lions getting restless. She understands what is happening. They are figuring out who is going to pilot each lion again.

"It really isn't that hard of a decision is it?" Linna wonders to them.

The lions lay their heads down to her in response to 'yes'. Linna smirks at them for that response. She understands them to well. Linna looks over towards Blue, Red, and Black because she knows that Green and Yellow are not going to give up their paladins.

"Lance is ready to pilot Red, and you know that Allura is ready to pilot you Blue." Linna smiles at them before looking at Black. "You know that Shiro wants Keith to pilot you."

The lions roar at her response towards her when she smirks at them. She knows that they are trying to ignore her, but they know she is right. Linna sits in the middle of the floor with them just to listen to their hearts beating like machines or even animals. She can feel their pain and sadness at the lost of Shiro. They are hurting just like the rest of them.

"I understand." Linna says to them as she opens her eyes to the paladins, Allura, and Coran before her. "Hey, guys."

"Hey," Everyone says to Linna except for Keith.

Linna tilts her head to everyone though because she sense somethings off about them. "What's up?"

"Well," Allura starts off very slowly with answering. "We are going to see if the Black lion will chose one of us to fly her to form Voltron."

"Oh," Linna says with a smile as she looks over towards the Black lion. "That's fine."

"Okay," Lance replies when he walks over closer to Linna and stares at her intensely. "You already know who's going to pilot her, don't you?"

"Yep." Linna states back to him with a grin.

"Can you tell us?" Coran and Allura ask her as they approach her closer.

"Nope." Linna replies to them. "That is for you to fine out."

"Come on Linna!" Everyone whines except for Keith who is hiding out in the back.

Linna gets up from the ground as she shakes her head to them whining. "Nope."

"Fine." Everyone pouts to her as they look back at the Black lion.

"So who is going first?" Hunk wonders to the group.

"Should be draw straws?" Pidge asks them.

"I have it! I am thinking of a number between one and 50." Coran says out of the blue. "Allura, you go first. Pidge is second and then the others."

"Wait, don't we get to guess the number?" Lance whines to Coran.

"But I already know the number." Coran states back to Lance.

"Allura just go." Lance says with disappointment on his face.

Linna giggles a little as Allura walks over towards the Black Lion. Linna looks over in the direction of Keith. She sees him thinking about something. Linna walks over to him before placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Have you thought about my question?"

"No." Keith replies to her immediately.

"I would." Linna tells him before walking out of the room, leaving him to think about the question she had for him.

The Lions are sent out on their mission:

Linna walks into the main hall where Allura and Coran are operating the Castle towards a planet. Linna sits in Keith's chair when finally Allura notices that her friend has appeared.

"You knew that Keith would fly the Black lion didn't you." Allura wonders to Linna.

"Yep." Linna states to Allura still looking out the window. "The Black lion told me."

"Then why didn't you tell us?" Coran asks her.

"Because I wanted them to see that Keith is the leader we need right now." Linna replies to them when Lance comes over the mics.

"My lion's not responding to me!"

"Well, figure it out and catch up with us as soon as you can." Keith orders him and the line cuts out.

Suddenly a large Galra ship appears before the castle. Linna stares at it when she senses his presence. The man from her nightmares. Linna gets up from her seat when his voice comes through the Castle.

"Attention, Paladins of Voltron. This is Prince Lotor, Son of Zarkon, Emperor Pro Tem of the Galra Empire. Surrender now, or you will be destroyed." Lotor tells them.

Linna stares at the ship with fear in her mind as she stops moving her body. She remembers her nightmares of him coming and killing her and her friends. Linna soon hears Pidge come through the mics with panic in her voice.

"We've been set up!"

"Evasive maneuvers! Everyone, watch your back!" Keith yells through the mics.

"Coran, we have to get there immediately!" Allura orders him. "Lance, we need you! The lions are being attacked."

"I'm trying!" Lance cries through the coms.

"I am gonig to see what is keeping him." Allura tells Coran and Linna.

She runs out the door as the Castle moves closer towards the ship. Linna stares at the ship with fear still in her eyes. She remembers him. Linna finally is able to move her feet as she walks over towards the pillars where Allura was just at moments ago. Coran looks back to see Linna on the main area.

"Linna?" Coran wonders when Linna turns on the intercom.

"Hello, Lotor." Linna speaks through the mics as everyone continues to fight.

"Is that Linna?" Lotor comes through the coms now with hunger in his voice. "I haven't heard from you in ages."

"I see that Zarkon has brought you out of banishment." Linna replies to him.

"I am shocked that you remember me." Lotor begins telling about her past. "If I remember correctly, the witch stole you memories."

"Linna?" Coran whispers at what Lotor just said.

"She did." Linna states back to him. "However, you can't get rid of a nightmare."

"That's funny." Lotor chuckles at her response. "I will get you back again. You knowledge on the comet and the lions are very useful."

"Over my dead body." Linna answers him when she cuts the line of communication.

Coran looks over towards Linna with worry in his expression. Linna waves him off when they finally hear that Lance is piloting the Red lion. Linna smirks at the mention of that. She realizes that the Lions did listen to her.

"Coran," Linna smirks at his worried face for her. "Make sure to hit them with everything we got."

"Alright!" Coran answers her as he begins to fire upon Lotor's ships.

"Thanks Coran!" Keith answers him.

Suddenly, the ship begins to fire upon the Castle with a full blast of incredible power. Linna and Coran struggle to stay on their feet. Linna places her hands on the pillars to see the amount of damage that the Castle is taking for every hit.

Allura finally appears in the Blue lion with joy in everyone's hearts. Linna smirks at the happiness that she senses before looking back at Lotor's ships. She now remembers who he is. She watches as his ship quickly vanish after Allura appeared in the Blue lion, allowing Linna to take her hands off the pillars and look over towards Coran with a smile.

"So she is going to pilot the Blue lion." Coran whispers with happiness in his voice.

"She will do a magnificent job." Linna answers him with a smile on her face before walking over towards the door.

"Linna!" Coran yells her name that causes her to stop and look back to him. "You know our new enemy?"

"Yes." Linna replies to Coran. "He was in charge of me while I was in the Galra prisons."

Linna walks out the door when she tells Coran that. She doesn't want to have to say anything else tonight. She feels her body start to turn heavy and nausea is settling in her stomach as she wobbles to her door. Her door opens as she falls into the room. Linna grabs a trash can and throws up at the memories appearing before her with Lotor. She feels the tears falling down her face as she places her head against the door and locks it so no one can come in. She looks at her room once again before closes her eyes with exhaustion as Lotor's face appears before her again.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I am Sorry about not updating all of the summer. I was on complete writer's block. I was also never home half the time to write a chapter. But I am back in College so updates will not be frequent. I hope you guys like this chapter! Please comment and Review! **

**Episode: "The Hunted" (Not really mentioned. This just happens during and after the episode)**

A knock comes at the door when Linna quickly lifts her head in fear. She lays her upon the door as she listens to Allura's voice come through.

"Linna? Are you alright?" Allura wonders to her as Pidge stands beside her with antsy feet. "We haven't seen you in a couple of days."

Linna glances down towards the trash can filled with vomit as her clothes reeked of disgust. She sees the stains of the vomit on herself as well as the floor. She stares into the mirror across her door while she sees a completely different person.

"Linna..." Pidge lowers herself to the opening in the doors crack between the floor and wood. "I know you are right there. I just want you to know that we are here for you."

"Keith wants us to go out and find Lotor." Allura states but at the mention of his name Linna's heart skips a beat as her body collapses farther into the ground of fear. Allura places her head on the doors frame before releasing a sigh of wonder. "Come on Pidge."

"But Allura... We can't just leave her!" Pidge begins to whine towards Allura since they haven't seen or heard from Linna in two or three days now.

"Pidge..."

Allura stops her from speaking. She places a hand on Pidge's shoulder to make her turn in the direction of the hanger as they head towards the lions for the trip to track Lotor's ship.

Linna feels her body going numb with fear. She knows that Lotor will be coming for her. She knows that this will be a trap. She realizes that this is a way for him to trap her for Zarkon. Her heart beats quicker and quicker as she closes her eyes to the memories of him.

**Few years ago:**

"This is your prisoner." Hagar points over towards Linna on the far end of the cell.

Lotor smirks at her as Hagar begins to explain to him why Linna has been placed in this prison. He stares at her with greed in his eyes. Hagar continues to inform him before waving him off. She walks away from the cage as Lotor orders the guards to open her cage.

"Open the cage!" He orders them.

Linna watches the cage door open for him while he stands patiently before her with his hands hiding behind his back. Linna stays back when the door stops at the end allowing Lotor to enter her cage of protection.

"So your name is Linna." He starts out very kind and gentle towards her which makes her tilt her head at the politeness towards her.

"Yes."

"I see that you are Altean." He notices her markings on her cheeks as she looks closer towards him.

"You are half Altean." Linna spots the markings hiding under his skin.

Lotor stares at her with shock because no one can tell that he is half Altean. He lowers down towards the ground as he glances towards Linna. Lotor wonders why she really is here. He knows that Hagar said somethings but he thinks there is another reason.

"Why are you here?" Lotor wonders to her while placing his hand upon her cheek like he is trying to comfort her.

Linna backs away from his touch like an instinct. She stares at him with fear in her eyes when everything comes back to her. She has been beaten and bruised while she has been here. She has not done anything wrong. The Galra just do not like her.

"I am here because of my knowledge." Linna whispers to him as he tilts his head towards her with something in his eyes.

"What kind of knowledge do you have?" Lotor wonders to her as she sees the greed in his eyes again like before.

"You should already know that." Linna answers him when her lips seal up because she is not going to allow him to know anything more.

"I can tell that you know a lot more than you are informing these individuals. Don't worry. You can tell me everything." Lotor smirks at her as Linna stays quiet and still in her corner. "Are you going to tell me?"

Linna shakes her head towards him when she catches the glimpse of anger growing in his eyes. She knows this anger very well. She feels his fingers wrap around her neck as his grip gets tighter and tighter causing her breathing to stop for a few seconds. He drops her towards the ground, allowing Linna to gather air back into her lungs.

"Now, what knowledge do you know?" Lotor asks her again with a sweet caring tone to his voice.

Linna slowly raises her head to face him as her hands protect her throat for another violent act against her. She doesn't say anything towards him which causes him to growl in anger. Linna quickly spots his leg swing back and forward into her chest, flinging her into the cages wall directing behind her.

"AH!" Linna screams in pain as her back stings in agony.

Linna commences to cough up blood when Lotor walks over towards her. He lowers his hands to grip her long hair on her head. She feels every sting of hair pulling against her skin on her forehead as Lotor brings her to face him.

"I am going to get you to tell me everything." He chuckles at the thought of all of the torture that he is going to have to do to her. "This is going to be fun."

"I will never tell you anything." Linna whispers to him as Lotor slams her head against the cages bars.

Linna feels the blast to the head while her vision starts to go under. She tries to force herself to stay awake but the impact causes to much damage that her body needs to rest for a little while. She watches her world start to vanish as Lotor orders the guards to send her to the special room. Linna takes a deep breath before her eyes no longer open up and her body travels to complete darkness.

**Linna's Room:**

Linna wakes up to sweat drenching down her body. She feels the tears crawling down her eyes when she hears the lions approaching the ship. Linna lowers her head towards the door as she listens to the footsteps approaching her door. Linna smirks at the sound because it is someone that hasn't been to her door yet.

"Linna..." His voice is lower and shallow through the door. "I know that everyone has come and asked if you are okay but I know that you are not going to reply or open this door." The person places his fist on the door before him as continues to speak with her. "We ran into Lotor again. We just got back after he almost killed us. Allura has really gotten better with Blue now that she linked with her." Linna listens to him slide down the down with his back as his butt sits on the floor. "Everyone is worried about you including the lions. They all want to know that you are okay."

Linna tilts her head to the door as she takes a large deep breath before conjuring up the words to speak to this person. "Thank you..."

"Linna..." The person lifts himself up in shock that she replied to him of all people. "Is there anything that I can do for you?"

Linna smirks at his suggestion. "If I open this door, you must not look at anything in here. You must not judge me for what has happened." Linna feels the tears traveling down her cheeks as she speaks. "I was waiting to hear from you because I wanted to see if you had remembered my question."

"I remember it. What would Shiro do if I was the one missing?" Keith replies to her on the other side of the door.

"Did you find your answer?" Linna shivers through her tears as she remembers that Shiro is still alive.

"I did. Thank you." Keith answers her. "Now can you please open the door?"

"Don't thank me yet." Linna informs him as she slowly reaches her hand up towards the doors lock.

She slowly crawls away from the door as Keith opens it up with shock on his face. He glances over at Linna when he sees what she is talking about. He lowers his guard towards her when he realizes that Lotor has done something that no one will probability never know about.

"What do you need me to do?" Keith wonders to her as she lowers her head with shame and humiliation.

"I need a bath." Linna whispers to him as he nods his head towards her.

He walks over towards her while he slowly and gently places her arms around his body. She lowers her head as Keith guides her to the bathroom in her room. He has to help her undress but he covers her with a towel to make sure to keep it private for her. Linna stares blankly at the tub of water when Keith slowly slips her in with the towel still wrapped around her. He glances over to the room as he smells the vomit that covers the room.

"I am going to clean the room okay?" Keith wonders to her as Linna stares at the water with no expression at all.

Tears stain her face as he notices the dark circles under her eyes. Keith lowers her hands down to place one on her back and the other on the side of the tube. Linna slowly tilts her head to face Keith before he begins to speak with her.

"I am really quick going to get someone. It is not Allura or Pidge okay." Keith informs her because she would not even speak to them when they came to her door for the pass three days.

Linna nods her head in agreement as Keith closes the bathroom door for her. He does not shut her door all the way so he can get in when he comes back. Keith runs to someone else's room that he knows will do great with this. Keith stands before the door as he takes a deep breath and knocks on it.

The door opens up to the one dork that he hates to talk with but Keith knows that he is the last chance that he has. Keith stares face to face with Lance in front of him with his robe already on and getting ready for bed.

"What do you want Mullet?" Lance speaks with annoyance towards Keith.

"I need you." Keith states to him as he grabs Lance by the hand and darts towards Linna's room.

"Why do you need me? It smells disgusting down here." Lance begins to announce to the world. "Why are you taking me down a stinking hallway..." Lance stops talking when he sees that Linna's door is slightly opened. "Wait!"

"Lance!" Keith raises his voice towards his friend. "She needs our help right now. She doesn't want Allura or Pidge to know."

"Wait! Then why are you talking to me?" Lance wonders to Keith for clarification.

"You are the only one that I know that can do this." Keith informs him as Keith drags Lance into Linna's disgusting room.

"It reeks!" Lance yells aloud.

"Lance!" Keith growls at him before opening the bathroom door to Linna still sitting in the tub where he left her. "She hasn't moved."

Lance glares at Keith while heading into the bathroom to speak with Linna. Lance tilts his head towards her as he sits on his knees before her in the bath tub. Lance reaches out his hand and pulls her hair back a little bit to see the red stains on her cheeks and the dark circles under her eyes.

"Linna..." Lance whispers with fear in his voice. "What do you want to do?"

Linna slowly lifts her head to see that Lance has appeared before her. She shakes her head with tears falling down her face again. Lance takes a deep breath as he smiles towards her.

"Lance..." Keith whispers towards him when Keith heads towards the door with all of the garbage in his hand. "I am going to clean this room. You need to take care of her please."

Lance nods his head towards Keith as Lance grabs a cup from the sink and begins to wet Linna's hair. Lance stares at her white hair that flows down her back behind him. He notices the towel wrapped around her body which he knows that Keith put it on her to give her privacy.

"Lance..." Linna whispers to him as he places the soapy wash cloth on her back to scrub her body.

"Yeah Linna?" Lance wonders to her because she hasn't spoken the whole time that he has been here.

"You like Keith don't you?" Linna states to him as his cheeks glow red with embarrassment.

"What are you talking about?" Lance chuckles at her trying to avoid the question. "I don't like Mullet. He is so stupid."

"Lance..." Linna lowers her head to her chest as Lance spots a mark on her back. "I want to tell you a story. It is a story about two people who cared for each other so much but never had the courage to inform the other about their feelings."

"Why are you tell me this?" Lance asks her as he observes her mark closer.

"Because you want to know where I got that mark." Linna answers him as Lance backs up away from the mark.

"You don't have to tell anything." Lance stutters to her with shame in his voice. "That is your story to hold on to."

"I want to tell it to you." Linna whispers to him as he wraps her hand around her shoulder to touch the corner of her mark.

"It was some time ago. I was with someone that I care for deeply. We were both in the Galra prison together and Lotor..." Linna stops at the mention of his name. Lance wants her not push herself but Linna continues to speak to him as she knows that Keith is listening on the other side of the door. "Lotor was in charge of both of us. Now the feelings I am talking about between us is not love like a romantic partner. Its is something else. Anyway, I worked with them on a project that Lotor wanted us to build. He wanted something that could track the lions so Zarkon would allow him back in the Galra Empire. I was not going to allow it. This kid was amazing though, he was smart and intelligent just like Pidge. He was so young as well. I think he told me that he was about 12 years old." Linna smirks at the thought as Pidge reminds her for him.

"I remember the last day I saw him," Linna starts to feel the tears falling down her cheeks again. "Lotor wanted the machine done. I had built it so that when Lotor started it, my friend and I could have time to escape from the prison. Lotor started it but the machine didn't do what I wanted it too. It did exactly what Lotor wanted it to do. It started to find the lions and before I could stop it. My friend charged Lotor in front of me. He beat him until Lotor grabbed him off of him. I tried to stop him but the guards had already appeared and grabbed me. Lotor held him in his clutches as I screamed at him. I just wanted him to be okay and not die. I was able to get out of the guards' grips which gave me a chance to smash the machine before Lotor found the first lion. I turned quickly back to see Lotor furious. My friend was still in the clutches of Lotor's hand. I ordered Lotor to not hurt him."

Linna looks towards Lance with tears falling faster down her eyes. "My friend whispered two words to me. He whispered two words that I didn't want to hear from him until I found his mother and father. I wanted to find his family for him. I wanted him to have a home and life outside of that prison. Do you know what two words he whispered to me?"

"Did he whisper Thank you?" Lance whispers to Linna as she nods her head to him.

"He told me Thank you before Lotor throw him into the machine before it exploded on us." Linna glances over to see that Lance now realizes the marking is of a terrible burn where fragments entered her skin. "I somehow made it. But my friend was unable too."

"Linna..."

"Why did he whisper thank you to me Lance? I don't understand. He... He died for no reason. I should have been the one that died. I wasn't even able to tell him that I found his family. I wasn't able to tell him that he was like a little brother to me. I didn't get to say anything to him before it was too late to save him!" Linna grabs a hold of Lance's shoulders with tears still falling down her face. "Promise me that you will tell him! You are going to make sure that he doesn't die without you tell him that you love him! Do not ever do what I did! You have to make sure that you tell him before it is too late and you can never go back! Promise me Lance!"

"Linna..." Lance pauses for a moment as he thinks about what Linna is telling him. He understands why she is telling him but he, himself, doesn't know his true feelings towards anyone. "I promise." Lance finally speaks to her as she wraps her arms around Lance with tears falling down her eyes. "I will make sure that the person I care for knows my feelings."

"Thank you..." Linna whispers in his ears as Lance feels her whole body weight fall on him for some reason.

He pulls her to face him to notice that she fell unconscious in his arms. She was holding all of her energy to make sure that he heard her story. She wanted to make sure that he knew. Lance holds her in his arms as he finishes off her bath and grabs a clean, dry towel from under the sink. Lance slowly opens the door to Keith outside standing in front of a clean room. Lance looks at Keith trying to hide the red glow from his cheeks. He feels his heart skip a beat for a second.

"Um..." Keith starts to speak when he notices that Linna is unconscious in Lance's arms. "Do you need help?"

Lance shakes his head to get back to Earth before speaking to Keith. "Yeah. She was trying to use as little strength as possible but sleep got the best of her."

"I can see that." Keith chuckles at the smirk on Lance's face.

Keith lowers to help pick her up from the ground where Lance has laid her to get her somehow to the bed. Keith grabs under her armpits as Lance wraps around her legs. They count to three before lifting her up from the ground and walking over towards the bed. Lance and Keith set her down very down slowly before taking a deep breath and looking at her then at each other.

"So..." Lance rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Do you need me for anything else?"

"No. Thank you though. I knew that you were the right person for the job." Keith replies to Lance as he tries to avoid contact with Lance.

"Why did you pick me?" Lance wonders to Keith at the statement that Keith just said. "You say that I was the right person but why?"

"You have sisters so I just thought that maybe you had to help your sisters once." Keith answers with a stutter of embarrassment for every word that he speaks with.

"Oh..." Lance states as he looks down at Linna sleeping so calmly. "Are you going to wait until she wakes up?"

Keith stares at her before glancing over towards Lance while answering him. "Yeah... I don't want her to be alone after waking up. I want her to realize that we are here for her."

"I thought that you were suspicious of her?" Lance wonders to Keith with a smirk towards him.

"I was..." Keith pulls up one of the chairs that he brought into the room. I was really suspicious of her. She just popped into our lives at random and somehow Allura and Coran knew her."

"So what changed your mind?" Lance asks Keith while pulling up the second chair that Keith brought into the room.

"This..." Keith states to Lance as he holds up the cube that Ryner gave to Shiro to give to Linna on their mission to Olkarion.

Lance stares at the green cube that doesn't move or glow in Keith's hand. "How did that change your mind?"

"Watch..." Keith tells Lance as he places his hand on the cube before him.

An Olkari appears before them with a smile on his face. It doesn't look like any of the Olkari they saw on their last mission. It looks like a very young Olkari. He looks like a child almost. He soon begins to start to talk to them.

"Hey Linna. It's Abe." The Olkari whispers and smiles as he waves to the room and the boys before him but Keith and Lance can see the prison background. "I hope this cube gets to you. I will send it home for you because I know that my mom will give it to you for me. Anyway, I need you to listen to me and please don't start crying. If my mom is giving this to you, then I know that I am dead. I know that you were going to try and get the both of us out of this prison but I am sorry. I don't want you to have to stay here anymore. I want you to be free to save my family and the people trapped here in this ship. I know that you are going to be so mad at me when you figure out that I made the machine work. I know that you are trying to find the lions as well so I thought that this was the time that you would be able to find them."

Abe smiles at the screen before looking at them again with tears forming in his eyes. "I know that I am going to die tomorrow. I know that I am being stupid and that you will be so sad about my death. That is why I am recording this. I want you to know why tomorrow, my last two words to you will be Thank you. I am going to say Thank you because you have changed my life. You made sure that I was never hurt or beaten. You made sure that I knew my family was safe, sound, and protected from the Galra. I knew that you would always be there for me no matter what. I want you to know that you are everything to me just like my family. You are a part of it and that is why I want you to here those last two words from me in person and not just on this screen. So Thank you Linna. Thank you for always being a part of my family. I love you Linna and I hope you can get everyone to safety tomorrow for me. I want everyone to be safe and off of this prison ship."

Abe smiles towards the screen as the tears continue to fall down his face. He slowly looks over in the distance as Lance and Keith spot Linna covered in bruises and markings. She sleeps with tears marking her cheeks as Abe walks over and places a kiss on her forehead before the camera turns off to darkness.

Lance looks over to Keith and Keith glances over to Lance. They both now understand somewhat of what Linna has been through. They know that she never tells a lie even when she doesn't tell everything. She is human just like them and has been beaten and bruised many more times than them. Lance turns his head to Linna sleeping on the bed. Tears still falling down her face. Keith lowers his to the chair as he places the cube on the desk.

"So Abe was the boy she was talking about..." Lance whispers to Keith because he knows that Keith was listening to the story in the bathroom.

"I didn't believe her until I found the cube. Shiro had left it in here so she has not seen it yet." Keith answers Lance.

"So she has no idea that he had planned it." Lance states with tears appearing in his own eyes.

He slowly gets up from the chair where he is sitting in. He moves passed Keith as he lowers his head towards Linna's forehead. Keith watches as Lance does the same act as Abe did on the screen. He places his lips on her forehead and gives her a kiss as her tears disappear for a moment to allow her to sleep in peace for the night. Keith gets up from his chair as he places his hand on Lance's shoulder. They don't speak or move. They watch as Linna sleeps calming for once since Abe has passed away.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I hope this chapter is okay. I really didn't know what I was doing and everything happened without my knowledge. Please comment and Review!**

Episode 4, Season 3: "Hole in the Sky"

Keith and Lance stand above Linna as an alarm begins blaring in everyone's rooms. Linna screams herself awake as she stares at the boys look at the lights appearing in her room. Lance and Keith look down at Linna as she slowly gets out of bed. The boys head out of the room and wait until Linna appears with new clothing on.

"Let's go!" Keith states to the three of them.

"Alright!" Linna and Lance reply back as they dart down the hall.

Pidge and Hunk are running behind the boys when they notice that Linna with them. Pidge sprints faster as she tries to catch up with Linna but she is unable to. Everyone appears through the door way with a red beaker alarm appearing before the screen. Linna stops and stares as she realizes what kind of alarm it is. The paladins stare at the three Alteans in the room.

"What's going on?" Keith wonders to the rest of the group.

"Yeah, these have never gone off before." Pidge agrees with Keith.

"Allura? Linna? What is it?"

"Looks like you guys just saw a ghost." Hunk says to the three of them.

"That's just the thing. It's an old Altean distress code. One used by King Alfor's ships." Coran answers the group.

"Could it be? Are we not the last Alteans alive?" Allura wonders with hope in her voice and eyes as she stares at the screen.

"That can't be." Linna whispers to the group. "I haven't ran into an Alteans while I was traveling."

"Linna..." Allura speaks when she hears her voice. "Are you?"

Allura runs off the podium and grabs a hold of her friend. Pidge runs to Linna and wraps her arms around her as well. Linna stares at them with her eyes still red and puffy but she doesn't smell terrible.

"How are you? Are you okay? Why didn't you call me?" Allura starts to ask Linna all of these questions.

"Allura," Linna whispers to her friends. "I am fine. I just needed some time to get over something. It is okay now."

"Are you sure?" Pidge wonders to Linna now.

"I am alright. Thank you Pidge. Allura." Linna tells them as she lowers her head in thanks to Lance and Keith.

"Wait. What if someone's cloning the signal to try and lure us in?" Keith asks the group at the thought of there shouldn't be anymore Alteans.

"The signal is from an Altean ship, and we're going to find it." Allura replies to Keith as she begins to get defensive and begins to pilot the ship towards the coordinates.

"Allura..." Linna whispers as she watches a wormhole appear before them. "Please don't be a trap."

"That looks like a Tel-Galax exploration shuttle. One of my father's deep space vessels." Allura announces to the group as they approach the colorful wormhole where a ship is half there and half not.

"According to the ship's identification code, it's Commodore Trayling's ship. But I don't see any records of its destination or mission." Coran informs the group of the information that he gathered from the Castle of Lions.

"What happened to it?" Lance questions the group.

"Is it stuck in a wormhole?" Hunk wonders to the group as they get closer towards it.

"That's unlike any wormhole I've ever seen." Coran explains to the Paladins.

"There's a massive amount of energy emanating from it, centered right where the ship is stuck." Pidge informs everyone.

"We have to see if anyone is aboard. They may need our help." Allura tells the others of her idea.

"We could send a probe over to it, see if we can get some kind of idea what this thing is?" Pidge brings up a plan of attack towards the rift.

"Do it." Keith replies to her.

Linna watches as the probe enters the rift and wonders to herself. What could this be? She watches as it gets closer and closer when it snaps in her brain. It is a rift in reality like Slav had explained to her millions of times. But why is it opened here?

"The engery shows no signs of radioactive decay and it's not thermal." Pidge tells everyone.

"It's not gravitational, our probe is steady on course, and the light is radiating out, not in, like it would in a black hole." Hunk informs everyone.

"But out from where?" Pidge wonders to the group.

"That energy signature, I know it." Coran states to himself. "It's radiating quintessence!" Coran announces to the group when he realizes the signature.

"Wow, that's weird." Hunk says after the probe explodes in the rift.

"Okay, well, let's not go anywhere near there." Lance states to the group after the show.

"We must." Allura tells Lance.

"Hold on. Didn't you just see what happened?" Hunk speaks out towards Allura.

"Voltron's compositional strength far exceeds anything else in this universe. We received an Altean distress call, which must mean that someone is alive on the ship. As Paladins of Voltron, it is our duty to help." Allura announces to the group.

"Princess, I still think there's a chance that this whole thing is a trap." Keith explains his worries to her.

"Even if it's not a trap, it's far too dangerous to go in there." Coran states to Allura.

"I'll do it myself if I have to." Allura informs the group of her determination of the mission.

"Allura!" Everyone yells at her as Linna steps in front of her to block the doorway.

"Linna..." Allura stops in front of her friend.

"I understand all of your concerns about this mission." Linna begins to speak to them. "I know that I have no right to speak on this team especially after abandoning you all of three days without a word." Linna lowers her head towards the group and takes a deep breath before looking up towards them with confidence in her voice. "I know that Voltron will be find going through the field."

"How do you know that?" Coran and everyone else speaks to their with shock in their voices.

"You say that the wormhole is radiating off quintessence. That is exactly what Voltron is made of. It has its own quintessence field around it. So if you are going Allura, I ask you to go with the Paladins to form Voltron and protect yourselves from the quintessences. I do worn you though, do not stay there very long because it could hurt you." Linna looks straight at Allura now as she places her hand on Allura's cheek. "Do not allow the quintessences to destroy you."

"Alright. Thank you Linna." Allura states to her as everyone stands behind her. "Are we going to do it as a team?"

"Let's do it!" Keith answers her with a deep sigh afterwards.

"Coran and I will stay here and watch after the ship." Linna informs them. "Please make sure to come back safe."

"We will!" All the Paladins reply to her as they head towards the hangar.

Linna looks over her shoulder towards Coran who is freaking out. He just turns around and doesn't look at Linna. She smirks at him as she walks over and sits in Pidge's seat for a little while. She watches as Voltron leaves the hangar before them and slowly approaches the quintessence. She closes her eyes for a moment as she remembers Keith and Lance helping her out in her room. She has to Thank them when they get back. She needs to say the words to them.

Pidge's voice comes over the mics as Linna listens to the static. "Guys, my sensors are going crazy. Technically, we should be torn apart the same way the probe was. But somehow Voltron is completely unaffected by the stress of the spatial distortion."

"Hello? What are you seeing? I'm losing visual. Hello?" Coran starts to yell into the mics with a hectic tone of voice. Voltron disappears within the wormhole as everything disappears from the screens. "No!" Coran screams as Linna watches him flip out in panic.

Linna slows down her breathing as she listens to the lions communicating to her what is happening on the other side. She realizes that Slav was right. There are other realities in this world and you can access them. Linna slowly gets up from Pidge's chair and heads towards the hangar where the lions exit out of but after she makes a stop to both Keith's and Lance's rooms first.

"I will wait here." Linna whispers as she sits on the ground in the hangar and feels there presence surrounding her.

**Lotor's Ship:**

"Amazing. Your theory about Voltron was finally proven correct." Acxa announces to Lotor as they watched Voltron entering the wormhole.

"I was personally hoping to see some more fireworks when it hit that energy swirl. I guess all of the previous attempts to get it out were just more enjoyable to watch. For me, not for your pilots." Zathrid chuckles at the thought of everyone that had died for the fun.

"Voltron made it through because he is made of the same material as that comet that King Alfor and Linna tired to hide from my father. Now, let's see if the new paladins bring it out to us." Lotor informs the group.

"But what if Voltron is unable to escape the other dimension?" Ezor asks the group.

"It's another reality, Ezor." Acxa states back to Ezor.

"What if they aren't able to escape the other reality?" Ezor whines after being corrected.

"If Voltron disappears from our world, then we win. If they make it out with the comet, we'll take it from them. It's a win either way." Lotor chuckles at the thought. "Now," Lotor brings up the Castle of Lions that is sitting in space before them. "Let's see if we can obtain Linna from that ship."

"How are we going to do that?" Ezor wonders to Lotor.

"Linna, will be in the hangar waiting for the Lions to return. She is connected to them in a way that I need her to build my machines from the comet. I also don't want her to help out the Paladins anymore." Lotor informs the group. "So we just have to get into the hangar real quick and snatch her without anyone else realizing it."

**Hangar in The Castle of Lions:**

Linna sits patiently as she feels the pull of realities when Allura removes the ship from the gap. Her heart starts to race in panic because she can't sense the lions anymore. She quickly gets up from the ground and glances around the room for help. She has to still be able to sense them. Where are they? Her heart races faster and faster in a panic before shutter Linna down to release the stress on her body. Linna falls unconscious in the hangar as another mark appears on her lower back. Her hair covers her eyes as she senses a presence in the room.

"Coran..." Linna whispers before seeing Narti, one of Lotor's generals appear before her. "How did you get in here?"

Linna tries to fight the drug of unconscious in her body. She knows that Narti placed something in her system now that is causing her to go unconscious. She tries to get up but is pushed back down into the floor by a foot. Linna cries in pain as her eyes finally shut when Narti pulls her over his shoulder and carries her out the way he slipped through security on the ship.

"Coran..." Linna whispers as she passes out for good on Narti's shoulder.

**Outside:**

The Wormhole appears before Coran in the Castle. He starts to jump and down with joy in his heart. He turns around to speak with Linna but she is missing from Pidge's chair. Coran looks over towards the mice as they all scatter towards the hangar to see if Linna is there.

"You're back! Oh, thank the ancients!" Coran screams into the microphones with tears in his eyes of joy. "Paladins, can you hear me? Are you okay?"

Suddenly a blast hits the castle immediately after Voltron appears from the wormhole with the comet floating around them. Coran notices a ship fire off from the Castle with two figures in the ship.

"What was that?" Coran stares at the ship when he sees specks of white hair in the window. "No! Linna!"

Everyone stares at Lotor's ship that has appeared before them. Coran observes the small ship latch onto Lotor's as it disappeared with Linna inside.

"Thank you for answering my distress signal, Voltron. Now I have the comet and someone that I have wanted for a while." Lotor announces over the mics.

Coran watches as the comet is taken away by Lotor's two other ships. He hears the mice scurry in to the main area with panic in their faces. Coran already knows. He watches as no one attacks Voltron which is a good sign but it wasn't good that Linna and the comet are now in Lotor's hands.

"Paladins, can you hear me? Are you okay?" Coran yells over the mic with fear in his voice.

"Coran, we're here." Allura speaks softly into the mic as she awakes.

"Allura, Thanks to the ancients. You are all right." Coran shouts into the mic with happiness.

"Where is Linna?" Allura wonders through the mic. "How is she doing? We had a very big blow there."

Coran stays quiet over the line as Allura feels something empty fill up in her heart. She senses something is wrong with her lion. The other paladins start to wake up as they listen to Coran slowly speak on the mics.

"Lotor has Linna..."

Everyone stops in sudden terror. Their lions awake with anger in their systems as they control the Paladins movements. The lions fly straight to the hangar and eject the Paladins out of them through their mouths. The Paladins stare at the lions as they shut themselves down in response to Linna being taken. The Paladins can sense something is happening with lions. Coran runs to the hangar and walks through the doors to see the Paladins thrown on the ground.

"What do you mean that Lotor has her?" Allura says to Coran with panic in her voice.

"Come see..." Coran whispers with disappointment in himself for not being able to protect her.

Everyone walks over towards the hangar doors and head towards the main area where Coran pulls up the security cameras throughout the Castle. Everyone watches Linna walk out of the main area and slip something under both Keith and Lance's rooms before walking towards the hangar.

"This is after you guys disappeared into the wormhole." Coran states to them as they watch Linna sit in the middle of the floor where the Lions are circling around right now.

"I will wait here?" Linna whispers to the Hangar as the Paladins watch her sit there and waiting patiently.

Coran fast forwards a few minutes and begins to play it. Keith watches as something moves within the shadows towards Linna. She stays with her eyes closed and focuses on the lions and not herself. Keith watches a syringe appear out of the blue and into her neck.

"Look!" Keith points out the syringe that appears before one of Lotor's generals appear.

Linna suddenly quickly gets up from the ground and glances around the room for help. The paladins watch as Linna is looking around like she is searching for something. Keith watches as sweat pours down her face as panic sweeps over her. Everyone watches as Linna falls unconscious in the hangar as something starts to glow on her back for a split second. Her hair covers her eyes as the general walks over towards Linna.

"Coran..." Linna whispers before spotting one of Lotor's general before her. "How did you get in here?"

Linna struggles on the ground before the general. Allura covers her face as she sees Linna struggling to move and get up. Linna tries to get up but is pushed back down into the floor by Lotor's general placing his foot upon her back. Linna cries in pain as her eyes finally shut when the general pulls her over his shoulder and carries her out the way he slipped through security on the ship.

"Coran..." Linna whispers as she passes out for good on general's shoulder.

Coran lowers his head as he turns off the camera and looks at the other Paladins. They all stare at the blank screen as Allura falls to her knees. She feels the tears falling down her face as her vision begins to blur from the water in her eyes.

"Allura..." Pidge lowers down to her as well. "It's okay. We will get her back."

"I told her that she was okay. That she would be safe." Allura whispers in pain. "How did he do this? How did he take her away from us?"

"That general must be able to hide his detection or heat radiating off him. That's how he was able to slip through." Coran answers her with sorrow in his eyes.

"We have to find her Coran. We have to save her from Lotor!" Allura raises her voice as she darts out of the main area with tears falling down her eyes.

"I will go check on her." Pidge tells the others.

"Thanks Pidge." Keith answer her.

"I am going to go see what she slipped under my door." Lance states to the group as Keith and him head out to walk to their rooms. "I wonder what she slipped under there."

"I don't know." Keith answers Lance as they walk towards their doors.

They both open them at the same time and see a slip of paper on the floor before them. They slowly bend down to grab the paper before opening it up. As the read the letter, they realize why she did it. They realize that she is going to be unable to keep this promise that she has written to them. They slowly turn to face each other to see the water forming in their eyes. They quickly turn away from each other as to wipe the tears from them.

"You know what she was going to say, right?" Lance says to Keith while trying to hide the tears.

"I know the words. I remember her speaking them to you as she told the story." Keith replies to him.

"She wanted to say 'Thank you'." Lance and Keith speak at the same time as they walk finally in their room and lock their doors.

No one else needed to know about the letters. They were specifically addressed to both Lance and Keith. Within those letters, there was only a few sentences on it. Keith looks at the letter one last time as he lays in bed. He will make sure that she will keep this promise. Keith reads the letter aloud to himself.

"Dear Keith,

It's Linna. I want to tell you and Lance something when you get back. So meet me in my room later tonight so I can tell you some words that are dear to me now that I have seen what Abe had left for me. I want to say the words in person so please allow me to do so.

Sincerely,

Linna"

Keith closes his eyes and places the letter on the night stand. He will make sure she gets to say those words to him and Lance. He will make sure. He turns out the lights and heads to bed. He has a lot of work to do tomorrow, starting with finding Linna.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: I am really sorry about the very very long wait. I lost track of time in updating this book. For this chapter, I will be skipping a lot of parts. Everything that happens to Shiro in the show happens, I am just not going to type all of that out. I am also very sorry for this short chapter.**

No one else needed to know about the letters. They were specifically addressed to both Lance and Keith. Within those letters, there were only a few sentences on it. Keith looks at the letter one last time as he lays in bed. He will make sure that she will keep this promise. Keith reads the letter aloud to himself.

"Dear Keith,

It's Linna. I want to tell you and Lance something when you get back. So meet me in my room later tonight so I can tell you some words that are dear to me now that I have seen what Abe had left for me. I want to say the words in person so please allow me to do so.

Sincerely,

Linna"

Keith closes his eyes and places the letter on the nightstand. He will make sure she gets to say those words to him and Lance. He will make sure. He turns out the lights and heads to bed. He has a lot of work to do tomorrow, starting with finding Linna.

**Episode 5, Season 3**

Linna lays asleep on the ship's floor as she feels the coldness run against her skin. She wants to get up but all of her muscles hurt and cry in agony. Her eyes slowly start to open when she notices a sound coming from the hallway. It is gunfire and guards yelling. Linna slowly grasps the floor as she struggles herself to the door. She can hear him but it cannot be him. She watches as he runs past the corner as they meet eye to eye.

"Shiro..." Linna whispers as he shakes his head before leaving her alone in the cells. "That's not really Shiro..."

Linna closes her eyes as she feels sleep taking over her body. She can sense the Lions trying to find her but she stops them from leaving the Paladins. Linna listens as the gunfire and the chaos end suddenly when she hears the escape pods leave the ship.

"Help them, Shiro..." Linna whispers to the Black Lion as she hears her cell open with the one person she did not want to meet every again.

"Hello Linna," Lotor says with a grin. "Let's go back to my ship."

**After Shiro gets away from the Ship and Lotor goes to Hagar:**

Lotor stares at Hagar with anger growing in his voice. He throws a crone's arm on the ground before speaking to her.

"Stop sending your cronies after me," Lotor speaks to her with anger in his voice.

"I know many ideas float through your head, just like your father, but the Galra Empire needs your leadership in these troubling times," Hagar explains to Lotor her reasoning behind the followers.

"I am the leader! But I am not my father," Lotor replies back to Hagar.

"Or so you think," Hagar answers him.

"I am not! My father wanted to kill the person that created Voltron. He never thought about how to expand our Empire. I have a weapon that will put me on top once again. Linna is mine and Voltron will not have her back unless she is dead!" Lotor states to Hagar before walking out on her as she lowers her head with a smirk to herself.

"So Linna is with you..." Hagar slowly starts to head to her lab as she pictures up a plan. "I wonder..."

**Shiro is floating in space: **

"I am seven days out. Oxygen levels are low. And fuel is... gone. This will be my last entry," Shiro whispers to himself as he takes the few last breaths before the ship starts to beep.

His eyes slowly close as he feels his air disappear into nothing. There is no oxygen left for him. He starts to remember Keith, Lance, Pidge, Hunk, Allura, Voltron, and before his vision starts to turn black he sees her again. The girl from the ship.

"Open your eyes, Shiro..." She whispers with a smile. "Open your eyes."

As Shiro opens his eyes, he sees The Castle of Lions with Keith leading in the Black Lion. He feels her presence within his lion.

"We found him, Linna... Now we have to find you," Keith whispers to his Lion.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I hope this chapter is good. I am excited for the next one because we go more into Linna's past! I hope everyone is enjoying the story! **

**Season 3, Episode 6; "Tailing a Comet" **

Keith slowly walks towards Shiro's room after their run-in with Galra soldiers. He thinks about Linna for a moment as he remembers what she asked him.

'I want you to think about what would happen if Voltron didn't form? I want you to think about the universe just like Shiro did before you bond with one another,' Linna's voice comes through his head.

"I remember Linna and I won't forget what you wanted me to think about and we will find you," Keith whispers to himself before walking into Shiro's room. "Shiro..."

"Hey Keith," Shiro answers back to Keith with disappointment in his voice.

"Anything come back to you?" Keith wonders to him with a sigh.

"I don't know. The last thing I remember was Zarkon trying to overtake the Black Lion." Shiro shakes his head to Keith. "It told me to use my bayard and I heard Linna scream. Then, just nothing. I woke up, and I was back on a Galra ship."

"You remember Linna screaming?" Keith wonders to his friend.

"Yeah. She called out my name," Shiro tells Keith because he had no recollection of her scream.

"That's weird. Well, you'd just unlocked the Black Lion's ability to teleport. Could it have teleported you? Maybe it was trying to save you."

"By teleporting me into the hands of the Galra?" Shiro lowers his head with his palm upon it like he is exhausted. "I remember Linna being worried about this mission. She had a bad feeling about it."

"Maybe Zarkon forced the Black Lion to do it but Linna would have sensed it and told us about the teleportation. She had no idea where you were." Keith wonders to himself as he lays his back with his arms crossed against the door. "However, he was trying to control the Black Lion up until the very last moment, right?"

"Yeah, maybe." Shiro shakes his head to Keith. "But it was like I had no control over the Black Lion. It was like she was taking orders, not from me or Zarkon."

"That..." Keith stops for a moment and pauses at the thought that maybe Linna did it on her own without realizing she had. Keith shakes his head at the thought and looks at Shiro. "Well, if you're feeling up to it, the rest of the team would be thrilled to see you up and around again. They need you, you know."

"Yeah, I'll try," Shiro whispers back.

"Okay, we'll be on the bridge," Keith tells Shiro as he starts to turn into the hallway.

Shiro stops for a moment before speaking to Keith about something he just recalled. "She was on the ship."

Keith stops in his steps when he hears Shiro speak to him with a concerned voice to him. Keith turns to face Shiro with a worried expression on his face.

"What do you mean by that?" Keith asks Shiro even though he knows the answer.

"She was in one of the cells that I ran passed. She told me that I needed to get out of there," Shiro informs Keith with a disappointing look on his face. "She was right in front of me and I didn't save her."

Keith takes a deep breath trying not to blow his head with anger. "She would not have wanted you too. She would have wanted you to tell us that she was alright," Keith explains to Shiro.

"Yeah," Shiro replies back to him. "I guess you are right."

"Yeah," Keith answers him and walks away from the room.

He walks to the end of the hall before slamming his head into the wall. He punches his fists into the wall with anger. He is so frustrated because he has not been there to save her. He can still see her face before they left. He has watched the video about a hundred times to see if he could have done something to save her. He did not want to see her in the same state him and Lance got her out of just after her conversation with Lotor.

"I am sorry, Linna..." Keith whispers out as he falls to the ground still with his fists to the wall. "I should have been there to help you."

Keith stays there for a moment until his anger and depression get under control. He did not want his team to see him like this. He has to be strong for them. They have to be able to save Linna. Keith walks down the hall into the main hangar where everyone is. They are all doing their own thing when Keith walks in. No one speaks to one another. They are all just focusing on their own work. Keith strolls over to the Black Lion's chair and starts figuring out where their next target is when the doors open to Shiro. He looks great and back to normal when he walks in.

He stands tall to the team when he speaks with his authoritative voice. "Great job out there, everyone. You've really turned the tide in this war. I'm glad you never lost sight of the mission while I was gone."

"You're looking better," Lance points out to Shiro. "How are you feeling?"

"Good. Just trying to get rid of this weird headache," Shiro informs the group with a chuckle in his voice.

"Guys, I think I have something here!" Pidge suddenly yells out to them with her hand up in the air. "So, I downloaded intel from the Galra base we just defeated. I untied the quantum-folded encryption, and I found something on Lotor and Linna."

"Do you know where they are?" Keith wonders to Pidge.

"Well, not exactly, no, but the last three sightings of his command ship have been in the Va'Kar quadrant," Pidge informs the group of the information she found. "Maybe Linna is on the ship with him."

"Nice work, Pidge. Although, those quadrants are massive. How will we pinpoint his location?" Shiro wonders for the group.

"Hey, that comet is made from the same material as Voltron. Maybe I can scan the emission spectrum for Fraunhofer lines, like when I found the Blue Lion!" Hunk announces to the group with excitement in his voice.

"But you know those emissions are subject to free induction decay. Those are exponential drop-offs," Pidge interferes with Hunk's idea.

"Yeah, but if you could find a way to amplify the sensors-No, there'd be way too much interference. What if, instead, we increase the SA magnitude?" Hunk replies back to Pidge with another idea.

"The spires of the Castle!" Pidge answers with excitement in her voice and a smile on her face.

"Genius!" Hunk says with the same amount of excitement as the dart out of the room.

Keith and Lance look at one another with a questioning expression to each other. Lance shrugs his shoulders before speaking.

"I have no idea what either of them just said."

"Let's set a course for the Va'Kar quadrant while they get started on that detector. We need to work fast. Who knows what Lotor has planned for that comet and Linna?" Shiro tells the rest of the team with worry on his face.

**Few hours passed: **

Hover machines with the Paladins in them zoom across the desert at great speed. They quickly start approaching the Galra base that they believe has Lotor and Linna inside. The Paladins make it to the ship as they search they realize that no one is there.

"Shiro, we just boarded the ship. There's no crew in sight. Moving forward with the search," Keith informs the Coran and Shiro who are in the Castle.

The Paladins start to enter the building with Hunk leading the way of where they need to go. Everyone follows his lead of the direction when they start to hear guns firing off from inside of the building next to them. Suddenly the noise stops for some reason.

"Sounds like the fight next door is over. Let's hurry," Keith tells the other Paladins with panic entering his voice a little.

The Paladins start to head farther into the ship. Everyone is on guard waiting for someone or something to attack them at any moment. A door opens for them to continue through as Hunk's machine starts to beep like crazy.

"The comet should be in here," Hunk informs everyone as the door opens to a ship. "Like, right here."

The Paladins stare at the huge ship before them as Hunk's scanner still continues to beep like it is a party in there. No one can understand what is going on when Lance breaks the silence.

"Where's the comet? Is it in that ship?"

Hunk looks at the machine as it continues to wave faster and faster as he gets closer to the ship. "I think the ship is the comet," Hunk tells the group.

"No, it can't be! He's already made a ship from the comet's ore?" Allura wonders with anger growing his tone.

"Oh, this is bad," Lance whines to the group.

"Mora like horrible," replies Pidge.

"Guys..." Shiro starts to speak on the coms. Pidge pops up Shiro to show everyone. "There's a piece of the teludav inside the Galra base," Shiro informs them of what Coran and he found.

"The one we used to wormhole Zarkon's ship?" Lance wonders to them.

"But they would never be able to operate it without an Altean-" Allura gasps with the realization of why they needed Linna or Zarkon's witch could do it. "Zarkon's witch! She had Altean markings. They also have Linna so they could have them control it."

"Is anyone else kind of freaking out?" wonders Hunk starting to get nervous standing next to a comet ship.

"Yep, mark me down for one freak-out," Lance agrees with Hunk on this one.

"Lotor must be nearby. We need to find him and take him out for good. There is no way that he left Linna alone anywhere so he must have her with him," Keith tells the Paladins with confidence in his voice.

"Team, you cannot let Lotor get that ship. You need to get back to your lions. You need Voltron!" Shiro tells them.

"Why take out one ship when we can stop all of this by taking out Lotor himself? We can't let him keep outsmarting us. We can also save Linna," Keith argues back with Shiro.

"That's exactly why we can't risk letting Lotor have that ship. This is too important," Shiro replies back to Keith.

"Keith, I want to stop Lotor and save Linna just as badly as you, but Shiro has a point..." Allura informs Keith of her opinion.

"Okay, you guys go back to the lions. I'm gonna search the ship for Linna. I have to find her," Keith orders the group.

"Keith, you need to stick together," answers back Shiro.

"Yeah, I'm with Shiro on this one," Lance replies to Keith.

"As am I." "Me, too." "Yeah, man." The Paladins say altogether.

Keith lowers his head as he feels the anger growing within him. "Fine. Let's move."

Everyone darts out of the hangar and starts to head for the exit. They are almost there when the door opens to the rest of Lotor's team.

Zethrid growls at the Paladins before pouncing into the air ready to attack the Paladins. She aims her attack at Allura with all of her strength causing smoke to appear after her punch.

Narti runs through the smoke and starts to attack Pidge with stealth. Then running to Hunk, causing him to roll into the wall. Lance begins to fire upon Narti when Acxa starts firing her gun upon him. Lance turns to block but misses the shot as it hits him. Keith darts after her with rage building in his body. Acxa takes her gun and parries Keith's black sword. Keith stares at her when he realizes that it is the Galra that Hunk and he saved back then.

Suddenly Ezor swings her blades in the middle, separating Keith and Acxa. Ezor takes a quick breath before swinging another blade at Keith. He doesn't have time to block it but Lance has his back and fires at the blade. It bounces away from Keith's face just in time. Keith glances back at Lance with a smirk.

"I got you, buddy!" Lance replies to him with a chuckle. "I always do..." Lance whispers the last part to himself.

Acxa dashes passed Keith towards Lance while Ezor attacks Keith, leg to the sword. She has a great form which is why she is able to slam him into the ground. Keith starts to struggle when he remembers that this is his bayard. He thinks of it to move hands which makes it and gives him back the upper hand to get out of her clutches.

Hunk and Pidge are still trying to take down Narti with all of their strength. Narti is like a ninja though. He has quick movements which are what helps him take them one by one. Allura changes his bayard to an electric whip as she swings it around to attack Zethrid. Zethrid fires her gun upon Allura but is unable to keep it straight because of the whip. Finally, Allura is able to wrap her whip around Zethrid's gun causing her to sweat.

Zethrid sighs with a grand smile on her face. "It's been a long time since I've faced a worthy opponent. I'm going to enjoy crushing you," she tells Allura before firing her gun.

This blast catches Allura off guard which gives Zethrid a chance to grab Allura's whip and swing her towards her fist. Zethrid slams a punch into Allura's stomach and flings her across the room. Allura looks up from the ground to see Lance firing his weapon multiply times trying to hit Acxa but ultimately missing, allowing her to kick him back into Allura and the rest of the Paladins.

"We don't have time for this. We need to get to the lions," Keith announces to the team.

"Good idea," Lance tells him while still on the ground trying not to cry from the pain.

The Paladins dart out of the hangar as Zethrid tries to follow them out. Acxa stops her though with her own commands.

"Come on! This is our chance to destroy them!" Zethrid whines to her.

"We have what we came for. Stick to the plan," Acxa informs her as they dart back to their ship.

**After the Comet ships fires and destroys the piece of the Teladuv: **

"Fire again!" Lotor screams at Acxa.

She fires towards Voltron again as it hits it's actually target. The Paladins scream in pain when Keith hears her voice. Linna is screaming with them like when Hagar hit them with the black magic.

"Linna..." Keith whispers to himself.

The comet ship goes towards the larger Galra ship and picks up the others. Lotor appears on the screen with anger in his voice as he orders them to come back to their ship. Everyone watches as the ship disappears before them when Lance breaks the silence.

"So, Lotor was attacking the Galra base and trying to steal the teludav? None of this makes any sense."

"We can talk about this later. They're getting away! They could lead us to Linna!" Pidge yells at Lance and the others.

"We need to go after them," Keith states to the group, especially after he heard Linna's voice.

"No. Get back to the Castle. Something strange is going on here, and we need to figure it out," Shiro orders the team.

They all fly into the hanger with their lions as Shiro waits for Keith to appear but he doesn't. Keith sits in the Black Lion for a moment because all he wants is to hear her voice again.

"Please..." Keith pleads with his lion. "Let me hear her."

Keith closes his eyes as he listens to the Black lion shut down in all functions. He just waits for something or someone to break the silence. He knows that he heard her when they were hit just moments ago.

"Linna..." Keith whispers again when he slams his fist into the maintenance board of the lion. "I am so sorry."

Keith slowly gets up from his chair and leaves the Black lion to join Shiro in the main hangar. When he leaves the lions all of their eyes go white as a voice comes through.

"Keith! Help!" Her voice speaks for a second before disappearing again into the darkness with no one knowing about her attempt to contact them.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I hope everyone is enjoying my chapters. I skip around in this chapter so I hope no one gets confused. I hope all of you are staying safe during this time as well. Please Comment and Review!**

**Season 3, Episode 7; The Legend Begins**

**Main Center of the Castle: **

"He fought us here, his generals were here, and he stole the comet and Linna here," Pidge points out to the group as she begins to think of how this all connects somehow.

"So, Lotor could be anywhere," Lance states back to Pidge's information.

"We'll never be able to find him unless we can figure out his plan. We're totally missing the big picture," Shiro speaks to the group.

"How about this question? Why was Voltron made out of the same material as that comet? What's so special about it?" Pidge asks the group.

"My father discovered another comet like that before I was born," Allura whispers to the group.

"Your father... and Zarkon," Coran restates Allura's sentence.

"This is back when Zarkon was the Black Lion's paladin?" Hunk wonders to Coran.

"Before that. Before Alfor built the lions," Coran answers Hunk.

"I know this is painful to talk about, but if we're going to stop Lotor, it's time we heard the rest of the story," Shiro informs Coran.

"Well, Linna knows it a lot better than me but I should be able to explain it to you all. In the beginning, the paladins were just five leaders, who despite coming from cultures which were vastly divergent and in some cases, had been warring for generations...managed to look past their differences in an effort to protect their common interests. What was initially a formal agreement to work alongside each other soon blossomed into a true friendship? A warrior's bond was forged, and together, they worked to rid their system of those who would do it harm," Coran starts to tell them. "The original paladins were Zarkon from Planet Daibazaal, King Alfor from Altea, Gyrgan from Rygnirath, Trigel of the Dalterion Belt, and Blaytz from Nalquod. They could have never known that, that very night, the fate of the universe would be changed forever."

"Was Linna there yet?" Pidge wonders to Coran.

"No," Coran shook his head. "The comet just arrived but Linna was going to show up soon."

**Past: **

"I have finished evacuating all Galra citizens near the crater. What have you discovered?" Zarkon wonders towards Alfor.

"We're not sure. This comet is like none seen before. It seems to be made of a material that can pass between realities," Alfor explains to Zarkon.

"What do you mean?" Zarkon wonders in worry about his people.

"Well, I mean that sages have always theorized that there are many realities stacked side by side with each other. Whole other universes with their own histories unbeknownst to us. But we never had any proof. Until now. When we moved the comet, we found this," Alfor points towards a large gap within the earth as it glows brightly in their world.

"This... is another reality?" Zarkon asks his dear friend. Zarkon glances down to a very strange creature that makes him scream in panic. "What is that?"

The creature meows with a smile. Another Altean walks over and picks the creature up. "Do not worry. It is only Kova. He is from our reality," She speaks to Zarkon.

"Zarkon, this is Honerva. She is the best alchemist on Altea. I asked her to come to Daibazaal and lead the scientific investigation. Her expertise will be invaluable," Alfor introduces them with a smirk on his face.

"Isn't it exciting?" Honerva wonders to Zarkon with wonder found within her eyes. "It could change the way we understand our entire universe."

"Well, find out everything you can. I will provide any support you require," Zarkon tries not to blush in front of her. "I must go."

"He didn't stay long," Honerva states before going back to her work.

**Present: **

"King Alfor experimented with the comet's ore in his lab on Altea, as Honerva continued her research of the rift on Daibazaal. But Alfor visited often as the years passed. Soon Princess Allura was born and Zarkon wedded Honerva. Alfor visited Honerva on Daibazaal soon after the visit to check on their quintessence experiment. It had still been running after only placing one drop of quintessence in it after a whole year. Alfor had met Linna a little before this meeting. He had started the creation of the ships with her after she became an alchemist herself," Coran took a deep breath in front of the group before continuing.

"King Alfor did learn that day that Honerva had been sending signals within the rift. This time, however, something came out. King Alfor tried to warn Honerva about taking caution but she was not listening and neither was Zarkon. The creature awoke at that moment and the rift erupted. It sent more and more of its friends outside of the rift. Soon, King Alfor and Honerva erected a particle barrier around the crater, containing the creatures. But it wouldn't hold forever. Zarkon and Honerva were very worried for their people but they did have hope because of King Alfor's and Linna's project could maybe save them."

**Past: **

"I trust this plan of yours will work, Alfor," Zarkon states to his dearest friend when they see the lions before them in the window of the elevator.

All of them gasp with amazement. No one dares to speak and no one notices her on the floor waiting for them. She glances up to see them appear in the elevator coming down. Linna stands between the lions once again as she opens her eyes to the research lab under Altea's castle. She waits for King Alfor to arrive with the others. They are going to release the lions. They have no idea that she even exists. She glances up to see them appear in the elevator coming down. She watches them appear before her with shock on their faces.

"Alfor!" She calls out to him as she waves for him to come over with a smile on her face.

"Linna, it is great to see you!" King Alfor replies with a smile. "I told you that you didn't have to be here."

"I wanted to see them take off," Linna answers him with a smile.

"Who is this?" Zarkon asks with a questioning look.

"This is Linna. She is the one that helped me build the lions with me. She came up with basically everything," King Alfor tells them with a smile.

"How old are you?" Trigel wonders as she looks at her small stature.

"I believe 14 years old." Linna answers to her. "I really don't know."

"I found her outside of the castle trying to observe the part of the comet that I was studying, and she has been apart of the team ever since." King Alfor laughs a little. "She is great friends with Allura as well."

"So Alfor, how do they work?" Zarkon asks him as he glances over towards Linna.

"We made them from the quintessence-infused ore of the comet, which provides them with an endless supply of power," Linna informs the group.

"Remarkable!" Zarkon speaks with shock in his voice.

"The comet alloy also renders them nearly indestructible," Alfor tells them.

"That doesn't mean they're indestructible though." Linna points out to the group. "These lions have emotions and feelings just like you and I. Oh..."

Linna jumps up in shock as she runs off to check on the lions when she senses something is up. Alfor shakes his head with amusement as he watches her work with the lion side by side. He knows that she is the true creator and leader of the lions. She just doesn't want all that power.

"What sort of weaponry do they have?" Blaytz wonders to Alfor as he turns his attention back to the group.

"This is where things become more interesting. Altean alchemy can accomplish some incredible features of engineering, as you know. But in testing my ship, I started to feel some sort of psychic link. I'm not sure how to explain it, but the ship wasn't just reading my mind. It was communicating with me. They seem to be evolving. We don't yet know what powers these ships possess, but we may gain understanding with time," Alfor informs them of his discovering.

"Time? Time slips away even as we stand here. My people will soon be slaughtered by dark creatures from another realm. Without these ships, all hope is lost," Zarkon cries out to Alfor.

"I understand," Alfor tells him with his hand towards the lion as he leads them to the center of the lions.

"Are we sending them?" Linna asks Alfor as each one of them stares up to a lion of there choice.

"Yes." Alfor lowers towards Linna. "I want you to make sure they are alright before we leave. You have a better bond than anyone here with the lions."

"Alright," Linna answers him as she goes around to each of the lions and checks for their approval of this.

King Alfor begins talking to the group again, "It may take some doing. These are not regular ships to be chosen at a whim. You do not pick the beast. The beast will choose you."

"They're not beasts!" Linna calls out to him as she stares at the bonds that are starting to be created between each one of the leaders.

Linna smiles at them all except for Zarkon. Linna was very worried about that bond. She did not like the way he spoke with anger and not with hope. Linna soon places her hands on the Black lion just to make sure that she is alright with the journey that King Alfor has chosen for them.

Zarkon turns around to face the Black lion as he glances over towards Linna. Alfor tilts his head towards his friend while walking over to him.

"What is she doing?" Zarkon asks Alfor as they stare at her talking to the lion.

"She has a bond with all five of the lions," Alfor informs the group because everyone has gathered around them now. "She stays here at night and talks with them for hours. She doesn't leave their sides so she has bonded greatly with each of them. I don't know how she did it, but she has created herself a family with the lions."

"That's amazing," Gyrgan speaks up to the group.

"She is so young," Trigel says with concern in her voice.

"I know. But she doesn't want to do or be anywhere else." Alfor tells them as he sighs to her approaching them.

"The lions are ready. They believe that they have chosen well." Linna informs Alfor with a smile on her face.

"Good job, Linna," Alfor places his hand on her shoulder. "I am very proud of you."

"I am going to head and hang out with Allura if that's okay?" Linna asks Alfor.

"Alright. Tell her I will be home later."

"Alright," Linna waves good-bye to the Paladins as she darts to the elevator.

Zarkon looks at the girl before turning to Alfor. "She does not call you by your title. Why is that?"

"I told her not too," Alfor informs him. "We are family. Just like you and I are great friends." He sighs as he watches her disappear with the elevator. "Alright, let's get into our lions!"

**Present: **

"Linna was very worried that day," Allura remembers vaguely. "She couldn't focus on anything. She just kept looking at the sky and every now and then she would crouch in pain."

"Zarkon became the leader of Voltron while Alfor stayed his right hand. Zarkon was a great leader for them but the evil was growing more and more powerful. Suddenly, it broke its chains and attacked Daibazaal. The paladins were there right when it started to attack. They were no match for it though because they did not know that they could join as one. Soon King Alfor listened to his lion as it guided them into the formation of Voltron. It took a while but they were able to stop the creature," Coran sighs with worry as he continues the story to the paladins.

"After the battle though, the rift became larger than before. King Alfor wanted to seal the rift however Honerva had different plans. Zarkon agreed with Honerva so the rift was not sealed. Honerva continued her experiments on the rift. She even got Linna to join her a few times but Linna did not approve of the rift staying open. Despite their difference, Zarkon and Alfor, along with the other paladins, established a new era of peace and prosperity. It was an age of exploration, and Voltron became known as the Defender of the Universe, establishing the legend that would live on to this day," Coran lowers his head for a moment and continues.

"Soon, King Alfor had to check on Daibazaal and Zarkon because every time he got news about Daibazaal it increased his worry. Linna even worried for Daibazaal and told Alfor that the rift needed to be sealed or the planet would die. King Alfor knew that Linna would never lie to him so he had his scientist scan the planet to reveal that it was fracturing. King Alfor even met with Honerva and could tell that something was changing her. He realized that it was the long prolonged exposure to the quintessence was that was poisoning their lives. Soon Honerva became very sick and Zarkon came up with a plan to get Voltron into the rift. But Alfor's compassion for his old comrade blinded him to Zarkon's true plans," Coran took another deep breath of worry in his voice.

"Linna went to me after they left when she realized that she was too late to warn King Alfor. She knew Zarkon's true plans because The Black Lion had told her. She was very worried about the members of the team and told me that I needed to get in contact with King Alfor immediately. Before I could even get a hold of King Alfor, Linna collapsed in front of me and her body started to glow around her. No one could touch her so I forgot to contact King Alfor. At that time Voltron had entered the rift and Zarkon and Honerva were being taken over by the dark creatures found in the rift."

"Zarkon's attempt to save Honerva was in vain. They both succumbed to overexposure of quintessence. The paladins had been deceived by Zarkon. They had unwittingly enlarged the rift, which further destabilized Planet Daibazaal. King Alfor was forced to evacuate the planet. He, then, closed the rift the only way he knew how. By destroying the Galran homeworld. King Alfor held a state funeral for Zarkon and Honerva in his royal hall," Coran stops for a moment when Allure states something.

"No one was able to get Linna out of her coma until the day of the funeral. She suddenly woke up competely in shock. I was there when she woke up. She had tears in her eyes like she had been in terrible pain or she knew something wrong had already happened."

"But what happened next, he could never have guessed. Zarkon had awoken from his sleep and Honerva was not herself as well. Zarkon had become pure evil, obsessed only with quintessence. In order to open a new rift between the realities, he needed Voltron. And so, the war began. The Galra immediately responded to their leader and attacked. The peaceful planets of our system were not prepared. Soon, they had all fallen, except for Altea. In a final attempt to keep Voltron from Zarkon's hands, the lions were sent to the far corners of the universe. Zarkon flew into a rage. He killed King Alfor, then avenged the loss of Daibazaal with the destruction of Altea."

"So, that's Lotor's plan. To cross into other universes and get the purest quintessence possible," Pidge states after Coran finishes his story.

"No matter what, we have to stop him and save Linna," Keith answers to the group with anger growing in his voice.

**Lotor's ship: **

Lotor growls in his chair before getting up and walks back into his ship. He smirks to himself when he opens the door to the back cell that holds his dearest prisoner. She lays on the bed unconscious with bruises over her body.

"Wake up my princess," Lotor speaks to her when she wakes up with a scream of panic.

Her eyes glow a bright white light in front of him as he backs up in fear for a moment. Linna slams her hands to her head as she continues to scream in pain. Lotor watches her scream before she stops and her eyes returned to normal.

"What was that?" Lotor wonders to her as he walks closer to her cell. "What just happened to you?"

"My head..." Linna whispers to herself.

"Tell me!" Lotor screams at her because she still had not answered him.

Linna stares at him with anger in her eyes. She hates him so much. Her body aches all over because he took his anger about losing the teludav piece. Her body is marked with bruises up and down. She closes her eyes for a moment before looking up at Lotor.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Linna states to him with a bleeding lip.

"Try me," Lotor replies to her with anger growing in his voice. "Or I will come back in there and beat you more."

Linna curls her legs closer to her chest with worry in her eyes. She was already weak because of not getting a decent meal. She took a deep breath and spoke to Lotor.

"Zarkon is alive..." Linna spits at Lotor as his face stares at her with shock.

"That is not possible," Lotor raises his voice louder now.

"Told you, that you would not believe me," Linna replies back to him as she tilts her head on her knees. "Hagar has brought him back."

"What?" Lotor growls at Linna. "What did you just say?"

"Zarkon lives..." Linna repeats what she said when she feels all of her energy disappears.

She watches as Lotor screams in anger as he darts out of the cell room. Linna closes her eyes as she listens to engines roar as Lotor changes their course. She tries to focus on the lions but she can only get a small signal and they are so far away from her that she can't connect to them. She wishes that someone heard her last message but they were all out of the hangar by the time she connected.

"Help me Voltron... Please..." Linna whispers to the air in the cell as she falls asleep again to try and save her energy because she knows that she will need it very soon.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I hope you all are enjoying your summer as well as this book. I am going to try to update around every two weeks. I don't know if that will happen but I am going to try. This episode I start towards the end of it. Please comment and review!**

Season 4, Episode 1: Code of Honor

Shiro slowly walks into the hangar while everyone is handing out supplies to other planets. He stares at the Black Lion waiting for a sign of a signal that everything is going to be okay. He wants to understand why Keith is doing the things he is doing for a reason. Shiro starts to walk out of the hangar when he hears something. He turns to see the eyes on the Black Lion light up for a moment. Shiro runs to the lion to see if she is going to open up for him but she keeps closed. However, a voice comes through for a moment.

"Keith! Help!" Linna's voice comes through for a moment like it is a playback.

"Linna!" Shiro yells back but there is no response to his reply. "Linna!"

The hangar goes completely silent at that moment and the Black Lion's eyes go back to normal. It is like she had been holding that message until a Black Lion paladin had entered the hangar. Shiro shakes his head as he runs back to the main hangar where Coran stands at his post figuring out where they are heading to next.

"Coran! Replay what happened in the hangar just a few seconds ago!" Shiro orders him as he runs into the hangar.

"Why do I need to do that?" Coran wonders to Shiro when he sees the frustration in his eyes. Coran types something in his keyboard and presses enter. "There you are."

The video plays before Shiro and Coran. They hear the door open as Shiro walks through the door. Shiro watches himself head back when he turns back. The eyes on the Black Lion glow on the screen as Coran stops what he is doing when he hears her voice.

"Keith! Help!" Linna's voice comes through the screen and the Black Lion's eyes stop to glow as Shiro runs out of the hangar.

"You heard it!" Shiro shouts to Coran with excitement. "That means that she is alive!"

"I can't believe it..." Coran stops for a moment. "But when was the original message?"

"Try a week ago and run the footage every time Keith is in the hangar or about to exit. We all must have missed it!" Shiro announces to Coran.

"Alright," Coran replies to Shiro and types with great speed on the keyboard in front of him.

He stares at the screen as he stops every few hours to the times where Keith enters or leaves the hangar. Finally, he lands on the day that Voltron was hit with a shot of quintessences. Coran plays the video as they watch Keith walk out of the hangar. Within a few seconds, the Black Lion's eyes glow and Linna's voice comes through.

"Keith! Help!"

"That was three days ago," Shiro states to Coran. "We missed our chance to connect with her through the lions!"

Shiro slams his fist on the board in front of him in frustration. He starts to feel like this is all his fault. He could have saved her when he was on that ship. She would be safe and not in pain if he would have done something then. When the team gets into the Hangar, Shiro, and Coran lower their heads to them because they know that they have to tell the team.

"What's wrong guys?" Pidge wonders to Coran and Shiro.

"Yeah," Lance starts right after spotting them. "You look like something terrible happened."

"Did something happen?" Hunk wonders to the two of them.

"Coran... Shiro..." Allura questions the two men that stand before the group, not speaking at all.

"I went to see the Black Lion," Shiro starts to inform the group of what Coran and he found out. "I just wanted to see if she would maybe allow me to fly with her since Keith is gone."

"Did she?" Pidge wonders to him because she is guessing that might be the bad news.

"She didn't but..." Shiro takes a deep sigh to the paladins. "The Black Lion's eyes glowed and I heard Linna's voice come through."

"What!" Everyone screams at the top of their lungs except for Coran and Shiro.

"That is great news. We can contact her now!" Allura states to them. "So why do you both look like it is bad?"

"I came back here and had Coran replay the scene," Shiro tells them as he clicks the video to play.

Linna's voice comes over the mics and everyone stops because they all can hear it. It was a recording that came from the Black Lion. Allura can feel the tears coming from her eyes now. She realizes why the boys are not happy about this sign from Linna.

"It is a recording," Pidge states aloud what everyone else has finally realized.

"Yes," Shiro agrees with Pidge. "So I had Coran go through the past week of Keith going in and out of the hangar."

"And?" Lance wonders for the answer.

"That message was from three days ago when we were fighting Lotor's commanders. She had just missed Keith when he left the hangar," Shiro answers Lance.

He presses another button as the video changes to the day that Keith stayed behind in the Black Lion for a moment. He finally appears out of the Black Lion and leaves the hangar. The eyes of the Black Lion glow suddenly and her voice appears not as a recording but as real life.

"Keith! Help!"

Allura takes a deep breath because she can hear the fear in her tone of voice. Everyone stays completely silent in the room now. Keith has no idea that if he would have stayed in the hangar a second more than they could have tracked down her signal and saved her. Allura looks at the group for a moment before heading out of the main corridor of the castle. She can't stand there with the frustrated looks on everyone's faces.

She heads down the hallway and stares face to face with Linna's room. She lays her head on the door while her knees lock and cause her to fall towards the ground. Tears fall down her face as she doesn't move. All she does is let them fall faster and faster. She has no idea what is happening to her friend. She has no idea what Lotor has planned for her. He must be doing terrible things to her.

Allura just keeps her head on the door until she hears the alarm ring out in her ears. She slowly gets up from the room as her fingers slowly let go of it and she dashes towards the main corridor of the castle. She wipes her tears away before entering the main hangar to see what could be setting off the alarm now.

Lotor's ship:

Lotor stands before the comet made ship before him. Linna has been doing her part by created different things out of the comet's core. He wants to make sure to get everything he can out of her before Voltron has a chance of stealing her back. Acxa slowly walks into the hangar with a message for her leader which he is not pleased to get.

"Prince Lotor, High Pristress Hagar requires your presence," Acxa tells him as he turns to her with anger in his expression at the mention of Hagar.

He follows her back into the main hangar for them. He really did not want to meet with her especially after he learned what Hagar had done to his father. Bringing him back to life is not something that Lotor really wanted to happen. He takes a deep breath before Hagar appears before him, hiding her face from him like always. When she is hiding something, she avoids eye contact as much as she can.

"Lotor, while you distance yourself from central command, rebel forces have taken entire star systems from our hands," Hagar informs Lotor of something that he already knows.

"You think clutching on to worthless outposts strengthens our empire?" Lotor wonders to her, getting annoyed already from this meeting.

"Your father knew those outposts would one day become strongholds," Hagar argues with Lotor.

"My father is..." He stops for a moment but not long enough for Hagar to notice. He is going to hold onto that card a little longer. "Is on his deathbed and I'm in control."

"You say you rule, yet you stay hidden. An emperor must be seen. His absence diminishes his power," Hagar points out to Lotor.

"I don't have to explain myself to you. Now, do not bother me again," Lotor replies back to her with anger growing in his eyes. He doesn't voice it though because he did not want Hagar to have that satisfaction of frustrating him.

"Very well Emperor Lotor," Hagar states back to him before the screen vanishes from view.

Lotor clutches his fist in anger as he gets up from his seat. His commanders start to move but back down from that thought when they see that he is heading to Linna. None of them are able to see her or go into that room unless Lotor orders them.

Lotor stands face to face with Linna as she stays on the ground with her legs curled to her chest. She doesn't even look at him when he starts to talk.

"Hagar is trying to control me," Lotor states to her in disbelief that he is even talking to her about this.

"She usually did," Linna whispers to him as she remembers all the times that Hagar would order Lotor about her torture.

"I am Emperor!" Lotor raises his voice like he is trying to get rid of this anger in his chest. "I am in charge of the Galra! Not her!"

"I already know this Lotor..." Linna replies still not looking at him with a deep sigh in her voice.

"I don't even know why I am talking to you!" Lotor shouts out unexpectedly to her.

Linna lifts her head a little bit to place her chin on her knees. She stares at the bars that keep her somewhat safe from him. However, she also remembers the times that Lotor would come into her cell just to yell out his anger or his ideas about creating a new empire.

"Because I listen..." Linna replies to him very quietly.

"But why do you listen! I tortured you! I am forcing you to be away from your friends! I take out my anger on you! Why?" Lotor yells at her while opening the cage that she uses as a protective barrier.

Linna lowers her head again before speaking to him. "I have been through a lot in my life. I have watched my entire planet blow up because of your father. I have been held by Zarkon, Hagar, and you," Linna takes a deep breath before continuing. "But those horrible times can not take away from all the great memories I have. I can remember the other times that you would walk in my cell just to get on Hagar's nerves. She would take it out on me later but it was nice for a moment that she didn't get what she wanted. So I guess it is because even if I am beaten, tortured, or forced to do all of these things. I still am able to live and know that the people I am protecting are living their lives."

Lotor stares at her for a moment. He is trying to understand what she just explained to him. Lotor realizes right then that Linna hasn't even tried to escape. She does the jobs that he orders her to do and comes back to her cell before falling asleep. She has never even fought with him. She doesn't raise her voice with him. All she does is wait for his next order before going back to sleep. He only feeds her once a day which is now showing by the pale skin and weak fatigue expressions.

"You..."

Lotor starts to speak but stops himself. He walks out of the cell and slams it shut. He turns to see her one more time before walking out the door. He feels his heart pound like he has realized something very powerful. He looks at his commanders for a moment but doesn't say anything to them. He just heads to his room and lays on the bed.

He shakes his head with confusion as he drifts off to sleep. He can't believe that she just told him all of that. He goes into a dream with Linna standing in front of him. She smiles at him before falling into ashes before him. His heart races when he watches this as he runs to her but everything around him just goes black until he wakes for the next day to begin.

Castle of Lions: After the battle

Everyone stands in the main corridor with disappointment and anger in their faces. Keith could have cost them all of their lives as well as everyone else that they were protecting. They all try to figure out what they are going to do when the door opens to Keith in the doorway.

"Guys, I..." Keith starts but stops when he sees all of their disappointing faces. He avoids their stares when he starts to talk again. "I heard what happened. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help."

"You keep saying you're sorry, but your actions say otherwise," Allura interrupts him with anger in her tone of voice. "Do you realize that your absence put the team in jeopardy?"

"And not just the team, the refugees as well," Lance informs him with just as much anger in his voice towards his friend.

"Matter of fact, the entire quadrant was in danger," Pidge points out to Keith because they all wanted to make sure he realized that mistake that he did.

"This is not the way I wanted this to happen," Keith starts to tell them with his eyes avoiding contact because he can't face them with all of the guilt he feels in his chest. "But, if there's a bright side to any of this, it's that my absence allowed Shiro to reestablished his bond with the Black Lion. He can finally be the leader I was unable to be." Shiro looks at Keith with a disappointing look but Keith continues to talk to them. "I'm not meant to pilot the Black Lion."

"Is that why you've been pulling away from us?" Allura wonders to Keith with pain hitting her. She remembers Linna telling her that she knew that Keith was ready to pilot the Black Lion. Maybe she was wrong.

"Yeah. I suppose that's part of it," Keith replies to Allura still holding his eye contact to the floor.

"Part of it? What's the other part?" Hunk questions Keith's intentions.

"The Blades have been making headway tracking the source of this new quintessence. They've been able to piece together a large network of hidden supply lines that have been secretly transporting it for who knows how long. And there's good reason to believe it could lead us directly to Lotor," Keith informs his friends, finally giving them all eye contact.

"A mission is being planned to infiltrate the supply line. It could take weeks, maybe months to pull off, but... if there is a chance to stop Lotor or even find Linna... we have..." Keith takes a deep breath. "I have to take it. I need to be on that mission."

Everyone stares at Keith because they know exactly what he is saying. They all stare at him with hurtful expressions now. "Shiro, you are the rightful leader of this team. And you proved it today by reconnecting with the Black Lion. It was always meant to be yours."

"Keith..." Shiro places his hand on Keith's shoulder. "If this is what you feel is right, then we won't try to stop you. But just know that we're here for you whenever you need us."

"I know you are," Keith replies to Shiro with a smile on his face. "And I can't tell you how much that means to me."

Shiro and Keith lock hands before wrapping their arms around one another. Everyone tries to hold back their tears but Hunk just lets them fall. He doesn't want any of this to happen. No one does.

"I can't be left out of this," Hunk cries to them when everyone wraps their arms around Shiro and Keith.

Everyone's sobs are as loud as they can be. No one wants to let them go.

"We're really gonna miss you," Pidge whines to Keith.

"Yeah, who am I gonna make fun of?" Keith tells him with sorrow in his voice.

"I know you'll make us proud," Allura states to him.

They finally release him from their family hug. Shiro keeps his hand on Keith's shoulder though. He lowers his head to him before speaking.

"We do have something to tell you though. It really isn't that happy."

"What is it?" Keith wonders what Shiro has to say.

"I walked into the hangar before the mission and the Black Lion played a message. A message that was sent from Linna from Lotor's ship," Shiro starts to explain to Keith.

"Were you able to track it!" Keith wonders to Shiro with excitement until he realized that Shiro said that is was not happy news. "You couldn't track it."

"It wasn't that we couldn't track it," Coran tells Keith with tears still coming down his face.

"The real message was three days ago," Shiro informs Keith as his eyes widen when he remembers that day. "You had just left the hangar when she made the contact."

Keith stares at Shiro with shock in his eyes. "I missed her..."

"We are going to find her Keith," Allura tells him.

"Yeah," Lance tries to cheer him up even though he still has some tears hiding in his eyes. "Linna is a tough cookie. She can handle Lotor until we find her."

Keith shakes his head as he takes a deep breath. "You're right. She is one of the toughest people I know."

"If we find anything, we will try to inform you," Shiro tells him.

"Thanks," Keith replies to him as he heads towards the door.

The door opens and his smile towards the paladins slowly turns upside down as his back faces them. He really doesn't want to leave them but he has to. He needs to do this because he has to stop Lotor. He needs to save Linna. He walks down the hall as the door to the main corridor slowly shuts telling him that he is going on his new path. He can't turn back now because his team is counting on him and he can't let them down.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: So, I am really sorry for the later update then I planned this week. I had to deal with two broken computers over two weeks that didn't want to work with me. That is why this update is a little later than I wanted to update. Please comment and review.**

**Season 4, Episode 3; "Black site"**

**Lotor's Ship:**

Lotor stands watching his creation come to life. Linna is located below him in a small metal bar cage as a foot soldier walks up to ask her where this random piece goes. She is not allowed to touch the machine, only create the plans for its construction. Linna glances up at Lotor who grins with happiness towards her. He is very proud of what she has done in a few days. It took a lot to get Linna to do this project in the first place.

**Flashback: a few days ago**

Linna lays asleep in her cage when Lotor storms in with excitement in his footsteps. Linna doesn't even notice his entrance until he throws a very cold bucket of water on top of her. She screams in panic and darts off her cot. She shakes her head with chills traveling up her body. Linna glares at Lotor when she spots the bucket still in his hand.

"Yes?" Linna wonders to him while looking down at her drenched clothes.

"I have a brilliant idea," Lotor informs her with a smirk on his face.

"What idea?" Linna asks him and starts rubbing her arms to try and warm up in drenched clothes.

"I want you to build me, my very own Voltron," Lotor grins at her as he watches her entire body stop.

"What?" Linna stares at the ground still not able to move or look at him. "What do you want?"

"I want my own Voltron," Lotor tells her as he places the empty bucket on the ground. "Did you hear me that time?"

Linna doesn't dare move. All she can think of right now is how can she stop this from happening. Nothing is coming to her right at this second. Lotor starts getting a little annoyed with her silence so he breaks it by opening the door to her cage. Linna turns her head to stare right into Lotor's yellow eyes with purple irises.

"Linna?" Lotor whispers her name as his hand guides to her hair strands that drape down her face.

Linna takes a deep breath in front of him. She knows that he will not like her reply to this statement. Lotor slowly guides her hair strands back behind her ears. His fingers glide down to her jawline as they reach her chin. Linna doesn't move her eyes from his while they stay in complete silence.

"You need to speak or I will get angry," Lotor replies to her silence as his fingers guide to each side of her jaw bone as the grip gets tighter around. "You don't want me to get mad."

"You... want me to build you... your own... Voltron..." Linna stutters to him still staring into his eyes.

"Yes," Lotor answers with a devilish smile and a luring voice.

"I..." Linna takes a deep breath. "I can't do that."

Lotor stares at her as his grip tightens around her jaw bone, causing her to flinch in pain. Linna feels the pain start to gather in her jaw.

"I'm... sorry," Linna whispers to him when she feels her jaw break. "Ah!"

Lotor turns around and slams the cage door as he listens to her scream in pain. He shakes his head because he didn't want to do it. She just isn't listening to him. Ezor runs in when she hears the screams to see if there is anything wrong. She stares at Linna on the ground screaming in agony while Lotor is standing perfectly fine right in front of her.

"Is everything alright, sir?" Ezor asks him as she continues to stare at Linna screaming when she sees that her jaw is not alined.

"Yes," Lotor answers her as he fixes his composure. "She didn't have the right answer to my question."

"What would you like me to do?" Ezor wonders to her commander because she knows that they can't just leave Linna screaming in pain like this.

"When she finally stops screaming make her startup with the plans for creating me my own Voltron," Lotor informs Ezor as he walks out of the room.

Linna tries to stop screaming but the pain is too much for her. She can feel her mouth not able to close or move for her. Acxa stares at Linna with concern in her eyes. She slowly glances out of the door to see if Lotor is nearby. Acxa grabs the bucket and fills it quickly with warm water. She takes a towel from the rack and opens the cage door. Linna tries to run to the corner but she can't move from the spot where she has planted herself after Lotor broke her jaw.

"I am not going to hurt you," Acxa starts to tell Linna as she dunks the towel in the warm water. "I need to move your jaw back in place."

Linna stares at her with fear and pain in her eyes. She knows exactly what that means. She is going to be a whole lot of pain real quick again. Acxa slowly approaches Linna, trying to show her that she means her no harm at the moment.

"I am going to put this towel in your mouth so you can scream in it as well not bite your tongue when I push your jaw back in place," Acxa informs Linna everything that she is going to do right before doing it.

Linna feels Acxa's hands wrap around her jawline just like Lotor had done just before breaking it. Acxa slowly counted to three in Galra before Linna feels the shot of pain echo through her body even more. She screams within the towel that lays dormant in her mouth at the moment. She at least didn't bite her tongue. Acxa pulls the towel out of Linna's mouth and dunks into the water again before dabbing it across Linna's face.

"You will be fine now," Acxa tells her as she dabs the towel one last time and leaves the cell with a bucket in hand. "I will be back in a bit for the plans. You should start working on them."

Linna stares at Acxa through her tears as Acxa walks out of the room. Linna cries her eyes out as she lays on the ground of cement. She wants this to end. Linna closes her eyes, trying to avoid the pain that echoes through her whole body at the moment.

"I have to get out of here soon," Linna whispers to herself. "Voltron... Please help me... Please..."

**Flashback Ends:**

Linna stares at Lotor with a towel wrapped around her chin to keep her from moving her mouth. She looks at him with anger as she points on the map of instructions she has for the foot soldiers before her. She does not speak only nod or shake her hands in response to the guards. She hears Acxa speak towards Lotor about meeting with Central Command. Linna hears Emperor Zarkon come out of Acxa's mouth which causing her to glance back at Lotor. His face is not very happy at the mention of his Father's name. Even though Linna has already warned him about Zarkon, Lotor still never wanted to hear his Father's name come from another person's mouth.

"Very well. Prepare a ship," Lotor answers her as he turns his eyes to Linna's.

"Do you think he's onto us?" Ezor wonders for the group.

"No, my father is simply ready to return to the throne," Lotor releases his eye contact from Linna and turns to his generals. "He can have it. Our plans have not changed." Lotor starts to walk away from them. "Narti, come with me. The rest of you continue to oversee construction. I will return shortly."

Lotor walks down towards the main door and down the stairs to be face to face with Linna. She stays where she is and keeps her eyes away from her. She does not want to look at him. Another foot soldier approaches Linna about a part of the ship.

"Linna," Lotor approaches her now with a grin upon his devilish face. "I was wondering if you would like to visit Hagar and Zarkon?"

Linna's eyes go wide with the question he just asked her. She does not turn her head. All she does is stare at the foot soldier waiting for her to give him the new orders that he needed to fix the problem with the ship. Linna tries to hide her panic when Lotor appears before her face. She can't hide for him now.

"Linna," Lotor guides his hand to her as she flinches at his approach to her. He lays his hand upon her cheek that burns at his touch. He watches as her eyes close, trying to hide the tears. "I won't lay another finger on you if you come with me."

Linna glances up at him as she slowly nods, "yes" to him. Lotor smirks at her with greed and pleasure found in his eyes. He knows exactly what he is doing, but Linna can't figure out why he wants her there. Lotor opens her cage and calls for Ezor to come and take over Linna's position. He guides Linna out of her cage and towards the ship that he and Narti will be taking to get to the Main Fleet.

"I will be with you the whole time," Lotor whispers to her when he sees the panic written all over her face. "I will not let them touch you. I just want to show them that I have something that they want but I have and will never give to them."

Linna lowers her head to think about what Lotor just told her. She still can't make sense for what Lotor is planning. She can't figure out what his real agenda is.

**Zarkon's Main Fleet:**

Lotor has Narti park the ship as they reach the main hangar of the Main Fleet where Zarkon wants them to meet. He grabs Linna by the arm and drags her beside him like they are one. Narti stays closely behind to keep her in place. The door opens in front of them with Hagar waiting for them which surprised Lotor for a second.

"Welcome, Prince Lotor," Hagar speaks under her hood as she notices Linna beside him. Her unexpressed face turns to a grin before speaking. "Please, follow me."

Hagar leads the way to where Zarkon wants to meet them. Lotor stares at her as she walks a few feet in from of him and Narti. Linna stares at her with fear creeping into her stomach. She can feel the tightness taking over her. She feels herself tighter her grin around Lotor's arm which caused him to look at her for a moment. Now he is starting to regret breaking her jaw. He wants her to him why she is so nervous right now. They start walking after Hagar as she leads them all to the Main Hall where Zarkon waits for Lotor. The large dark purple doors swing open by themselves as Hagar walks in first, followed by Lotor, Linna, and Narti. They all stare at Emperor Zarkon that sits in his great chair before them. Linna hides behind Lotor the best she can like she is a small child once again.

"I have brought your guest Emperor Zarkon," Hagar informs Zarkon as they stop in front of him.

He stares at the three of them before him. He finally lays his eyes on Linna, hiding behind Lotor. He doesn't change his expression but Linna can feel the excitement he felt when he laid his eyes upon her. She keeps her closed behind Lotor like he can't see her even though she felt his presence glaring down upon her.

"Father, it gives me such pleasure that you've made a full recovering," Lotor starts out to him as he takes a knee to him which gave Linna a full view of Zarkon now. "YOu look stronger than I've ever..."

"Silence!" Zarkon stops Lotor from speaking while still staring at Linna. "I did not bring you here to waste time with your flattery." Lotor lowers his head to his father as Zarkon continues to speak. "You are relieved of your position, effectively immediately."

Lotor's eyes open with a sudden realization of what his father has just told him. "Lord, I beg you, do not discard me. Let me stay by your side." Lotor stands at this statement to show his commitment to his Father.

"Your short reign will be regarded as a black spot on the Galra Empire for years to come," Zarkon informs his son.

"Of course, my efforts at ruling the universe seem feeble beside your inestimable accomplishments. But, perhaps, if you were to train me, I could learn," Lotor explains to his father.

"You are no longer needed," Zarkon informs Lotor.

"As you wish," Lotor answers back him with his head lowered.

Lotor takes a hold of Linna's arm when Zarkon stops him with his words. "I would like to speak to Linna."

"Lord," "I will speak with her alone," Zarkon interrupted Lotor before he could even say another word.

Lotor gives Linna a look of 'we will take about this in my ship.' Narti and Lotor head through the doors as they are slammed behind their exit. Linna stands before Hagar and Zarkon with fear still in his stomach. She wants this to be a dream. She wants to wake up now. Hagar stares at the bandage around her head.

"What is wrong with your jaw?" Hagar wonders at Linna with her head tilted.

"My jaw... is broken..." Linna gets out with as little to no movement of her lips.

"Lotor did that, I presume," Hagar replies with no emotion in her voice.

"Yes," Linna answers her.

"I would like you to stay with me, Linna. I know the power of knowledge that you hold," Zarkon speaks to her now.

"I... am fine," Linna replies to Zarkon with a little bit of nervousness in her voice.

"We will be taking you from him, Linna," Hagar states to her which causes her eyes to open with fear more than normal.

"I.. would like... to leave..." Linna replies to Hagar's statement.

"You may," Zarkon answers her as turns to walk away. "But we will be seeing you soon."

Linna races faster to the doors as she slams them shut behind her. Lotor stands, waiting for her as Narti is nowhere to be found. She feels the sweat running down her face as she stares at him. Lotor takes hold of her hand and starts walking towards the ship. Linna glances up to see Hagar watching them as they enter the ship. Linna looks over her shoulder to see Narti and his cat stop and stare at Hagar. Linna can feel something happening but Lotor places her on the ship before she has a say.

"Run the protocol to search for trackers," Lotor orders Narti. Narti runs the protocol as nothing shows up. "Transpose the dynamics and run that protocol again." Narti does as he is told and runs it again to find a bug underneath the ship. "You think you can fool me, Witch? Destroy the bug."

Linna watches as a light goes across the ship as it cleans it from all bugs. It sends an electric shock on it to kick it off the ship. Linna stares at Lotor as he growls in anger towards the witch and his father. She can see the anger in his face. They all keep quiet for the rest of the trip to Lotor's main base. He lands the ship in the hangar as he takes a hold of Linna's arm. They both walk out of the ship with anger on his face. Ezor and Acxa are waiting at the docks for Lotor to return with news.

"How'd it go? Are you fired?" Ezor wonders.

"I'm afraid I was relieved of my command, yes," Lotor answers with a smile on his face.

"The second ship is complete and ready for testing," Axca informs Lotor which Linna did not want to hear. "The sentries are just making some final adjustments."

She has been trying to stall them for days but it did not work. She lowers her head at the thought of Lotor having two ships that were made for the comet-like Voltron. Linna keeps her head low at the thought of being the one to kill her friends.

"Excellent," Lotor replies with an even bigger smile on his face. "Linna, did you hear that?"

Linna nods her head in reply but doesn't look at Lotor. She did not want this to happen. She wants to go back to the Castle of Lions. She wants to be with Allura, Coran, and the Paladins. Lotor releases Linna's arm because he knows that she won't run with three of his generals with him. Linna zones out what Acxa starts to tell Lotor next because she starts to hear something. She tilts her head towards Narti as the voices start again but in a very low whisper. She knows it is coming from his direction. As Lotor and Acxa finish talking, Linna starts to feel pain echo through her head. It is not pain from her broken, healing jaw. It is something completely different.

"Ah!" Linna screams as her head starts to flash through different events.

She feels her body hit the floor with a pound in her jaw to multiply the pain. Lotor and the generals stare at her motionless body as they watch a mark appear upon her shoulder. Lotor stares at it because it is not Altean that he has seen.

"I will take her back to her cage," Lotor informs his generals. "Figure out what that mark means!"

"Yes, sir!" All of his generals answer him.

Lotor picks her up in his arms as he walks towards her cage. He stares at the door for a moment but decides to not open it. He takes Linna to his bedroom where he lays her upon his bed. He pulls a blanket over her as he stares at her bandage mouth.

"I should not have done that to you. I should have told you my plan," Lotor whispers to her as he stares at her struggle in pain. "I hope you tell me what Zarkon and Hagar wanted from you. I hope you tell me."

Lotor stares at her before looking over a dark purple couch that lays within his room. He strolls over to it and sits down. He lowers his head into his palm as he waits for Acxa to come to get him before they do their test run.

"I want you to explain to me what happened to you. You better tell me," Lotor whispers to Linna before feeling himself start to fall asleep. The next moment he knew, Acxa is in his room to wake him up.

"Prince Lotor," Acxa shakes his shoulder. "The test is ready."

"Alright," Lotor waves her away as he looks to see that Linna is now motionless in his bed. He places his hand on her to see if she is still breathing. He can feel her heartbeat as he notices another marking on her other shoulder but different from the one he saw before. "Let's go."

Acxa watches Lotor with wonder in her expression as she follows Lotor out the door of his room. He leads her towards the second ship that Linna has helped them create with the comet. Acxa however, has never seen Lotor like this before.

"Do you know who we will be testing?" Acxa asks her leader.

"Voltron..." Lotor answers her with nothing in his voice as he enters the hangar with the second ship. "I want to destroy Voltron and I will be doing it with these ships."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Sorry for the later update. I was pretty busy this weekend and didn't know what I wanted to do in this chapter. I hope you like this chapter. Please comment and review! **

**Season 4, Episode 3: "Black Site" Season 4, Episode 5: "Begin the Blitz" **

**Lotor's ship: **

Lotor stares at her before looking over a dark purple couch that lays within his room. He strolls over to it and sits down. He lowers his head into his palm as he waits for Acxa to come to get him before they do their test run.

"I want you to explain to me what happened to you. You better tell me," Lotor whispers to Linna before feeling himself start to fall asleep. The next moment he knew, Acxa is in his room to wake him up.

"Prince Lotor," Acxa shakes his shoulder. "The test is ready."

"Alright," Lotor waves her away as he looks to see that Linna is now motionless in his bed. He places his hand on her to see if she is still breathing. He can feel her heartbeat as he notices another marking on her other shoulder but different from the one he saw before. "Let's go."

Acxa watches Lotor with wonder in her expression as she follows Lotor out the door of his room. He leads her towards the second ship that Linna has helped them create with the comet. Acxa however, has never seen Lotor like this before.

"Do you know who we will be testing?" Acxa asks her leader.

"Voltron..." Lotor answers her with nothing in his voice as he enters the hangar with the second ship. "I want to destroy Voltron and I will be doing it with these ships."

Lotor and Acxa start to head towards the ships to take out Voltron when their ship wails off alarms. Lotor stares at the alarms in anger before turning to Acxa. He didn't know what the alarms are for but he wanted to make sure that Linna is with him.

"Go retrieve Linna now!"

Acxa darts back towards Lotor's room as he listens to his other Generals informing him of what is happening. He knows exactly what is happening when he hears the firing hit the ship. He could tell what kind of firing it is. It is a Galra fleet. Zethrid comes across the intercoms with anger in her voice.

"A Galra fleet is attacking us!"

"Return fire!" Lotor orders her.

"Wait, there is another fleet. And another one. We can't hold them all off," Zethrid informs Lotor with panic building up in her voice.

"Prepare the Sincline ships to takeoff. Load the comet and Linna into mine," Lotor orders his Generals. "We're leaving."

Lotor walks out towards his ship as Acxa brings Linna to him. He picks her up like a bride and carries her into his ship. He lays her gentle on the bed that pulls out behind his chair. He hears his ship rumble as the firing continues upon them. Lotor growls in anger when he walks out of his ship waiting for everything to get loaded up in his ship. He sees his Generals appear as he walks up to them to give them orders about what to do.

"Divert all power to defenses. Hold the attack off until we're away. Then scuttle..." Lotor orders his soldiers when the ship tips with all of the firings upon it. Lotor falls to the ground in frustration.

"How did they find us?" Acxa wonders to her commander.

"We must have been tracked," Zethrid replies to Acxa which causes Lotor to wonder.

He stares at the ground when he remembers Linna strangely staring at Narti. It was like she had already sensed something and the magic backfired into her own mind. Lotor gets up from the ground with anger in his grip. He turns to Narti before linking the clues together. He takes his sword and swings it right through Narti's body as it falls to the ground. All of his generals stare at Lotor with panic but all Lotor does is walks towards his ship. They prepare the ships and dart out of the end of the ship in disguise. Lotor sees Voltron appear from nowhere when their ships drive pass them. He holds his anger though because he knows that Voltron can hold the fleet until they are in a safe distance. Lotor glances over to see Linna still asleep next to him.

"I don't want them to take you away from me just yet," He whispers to himself when he hears Acxa speak to him.

"Sir, we are picking up a transmission."

"Attention, citizens of the Galra Empire." Lotor's father's voice comes over the intercoms. "From this day forward, my son Lotor is to be regarded as a fugitive criminal of the empire. All citizens are authorized to use deadly force to stop him or any of his soldiers. I repeat, Prince Lotor is an enemy of the state. Engage with extreme prejudice. Kill on sight," Zarkon informs everyone in the entire universe but he adds something else that surprises Voltron. "There is one other thing. Prince Lotor has a prisoner with him. She is necessary for our empire to continue to thrive. Her name is Linna and she is an Altean. She has beautifully long white hair with blueish/magenta eyes. Lotor has her prisoner at the moment. Whoever obtains her, unharmed will get a great reward. Obtain her and I will make you a general in my fleet or higher up if you already are one. That is all."

The coms go silent as everyone stares at one another with shock in their faces. Lotor turns to Linna still asleep on the bed as her long white hair falls towards the ground. She still has a bandage around her mouth because it is still healing.

**The Castle of the Lions: **

Kolivan and Keith show up on the big screen in front of the Paladins. They needed more information about the issue with Lotor. This might be their chance to get Linna.

"Entire Galra fleets have been mobilized. Zarkon seems to be out looking for Lotor," Kolivan informs Voltron.

"They are even searching for Linna," Keith tells his friends with worry in his voice. "She is one of the Galra fleets' main focus."

"We heard about that," Allura replies to Keith. "I hope she is okay."

"I wonder what Zarkon meant about her being necessary for the empire to thrive?" Lance asks the group.

"Her knowledge on the lions," Keith states to Lance. "She knows so much that he probably thinks that she will tell him a way to get the Black Lion back or destroy Voltron for good."

"We have to find Linna before Zarkon or any other Galra general finds her," Pidge replies to Keith.

"I am going to see if we can find Lotor," Keith starts to inform the group when Shiro interrupts him.

"It is only a matter of time before he gets the empire back in order," Shiro replies to the Blades of Marmora. "We need to take advantage of this moment."

"What are you getting at, Shiro?" Allura wonders to Shiro's statement.

"Now, is the time to reassemble the coalition that Voltron has been building. With the intelligence gathered by the Blades and the coalition observers, combined with Pidge's Galra tracking software, we now have a detailed map of the Galra Empire." Shiro informs the group of what he has been thinking about.

"I've identified an intermittent line of the coalition planets that runs through the territory," Pidge tells the group. "If you look closely, there's only one Galra-occupied planet left on that line."

"Naxzela," Allura states the name of the planet.

"Exactly,"Shiro tells her. "If we capture Naxzela and solidify that line, we can cut off all the Galra troops behind from central command and use our position to defeat them."

"Wow! We could take back a third of the Galra Empire in one fell swoop," Pidge states with excitement. "Linna would be proud of that."

"Do we have a plan?" Hunk wonders to them.

"We attack several locations across the region, at once," Shiro tells them his plan. "First, we'll have to cut off communications between the region and Galra Central Command by striking the satellite relay station orbiting Vantax Five."

"Pidge and I can handle that!" Hunk announces with excitement.

"The Blades have informed us of two Galra defense systems coming online called Zaiforge cannons." The picture of the cannons appears before the group. "Now, these cannons can strike any target within our combat theater. The first, in high-orbit around the planet Teq, will be attacked by coalition air-forces led by Matt and Captain Olia. Kolivan will lead a Marmoran strike team against the second cannon, located on the surface of Senfama, which is vulnerable to a convert ground attack." Shiro takes a deep breath before continuing to talk. "We intend to take control of these cannons and use Zarkon's own firepower against him. Once the coalition forces and Blades neutralize these targets, Galra defenses will be weakened, allowing us to take down the remaining Galra-occupied planets in this area. While our forces are taking control of the planets, Naxzela will already be under attack."

"By whom?" Allura stares at Shiro with disappointment with his plan from the very beginning. She is not liking the risks that Shiro is implying for this plan.

"Voltron," Shiro answers her with no emotion in his voice.

When Shiro says this though, everyone is all on board with the idea. Lance comes up from behind Pidge and Hunk with an evil smirk across his face as he speaks to the group with excitement.

"Aw, yeah! Team Voltron's gonna drop in Naxzela, form Hunk's giant laser cannon and be all like, "Pow! Pow! Pow!" Easy-peasy." Lance wraps his arms around the two of them with a creepy smile of happiness.

"Unfortunately, not that easy," Shiro informs Lance. "Naxzela will be tough. It's heavily fortified with Galra. Our attack must be swift enough to neutralize the Galra forces before they have time to contact Galra Headquarters. 'Cause, if they call for reinforcements, we'll be caught in a fight on two fronts."

"If this works, the Voltron coalition will possess a third of the Galra Empire's territory. It will be a massive victory." Kolivan says to the group.

"And inspire a whole new wave of rebellions," Allura adds on to Kolivan's statement.

"There's no time to waste," Shiro tells them.

**Lotor's ships: **

"Ezor, Acxa, set a course for the coordinates I'm sending you." Lotor informs his generals.

"Where are we going?" Ezor wonders to her leader.

"Just do as I told you!" Lotor orders her with anger in his voice before blacking out his screen.

He looks at Linna still sleeping on the bed behind him. She has two more markings that line the front of her chest line up towards her neck. Those are very hard to hide from him. She curls in her sleep when he hears her start to whisper to herself.

"I am sorry..."

"What are you sorry about?" Lotor wonders to her.

"This happened because I denied Zarkon's offer..." Linna whispers to Lotor before rowing over to the other side of the bed.

Lotor stops in the seat as he recalls what she just said to him. He really did not think that she is going to reply to him. He thought she is still sleeping.

**Hours later: Lotor's ship**

"Sir, we're approaching the coordinates, but my scanners don't detect anything," Zethrid informs her commander.

"They're not supposed to," Lotor replies to her.

Their ships float towards a dusted area as a destroyed planet appears before them. Everyone stares at the ruined planet because there is no life there.

"Lotor, what is this?" Ezor wonders.

"The ruins of planet Daibazaal," Lotor replies to her.

Their ships fly closer to the life-less planet. Lotor watches as Linna struggles like she knows where they are. She can sense the power that lurks before them. Her marks start to glow by the sense of magic which causes Lotor to grin at what he sees.

"What is that?" Ezor asks her commander.

Lotor turns to see the glowing sphere before them. He grins with happiness that it is still here. His father still has not figured out what Lotor created a while ago with the help of Linna when he had her as a prisoner before.

"Zarkon believed that Alfor's plan to blow up Daibazaal and destroy the rift between the realities actually worked. No one comprehended that the experiments of my mother, Honerva, could never be undone." Lotor grins as he continues to explain to his generals. "I had a secret team construct this inter-reality gate on the rift, where her work began. Just as Voltron was able to, I will pilot us through the rift, and we will harvest the unlimited quintessence that exists in the layer between realities."

"I never doubted you, Lotor." Acxa repliest to him.

"So, we can just fly right through this thing to another reality?" Ezor wonders.

"I've not yet had a chance to test the gate," Lotor informs them. "My plans have been accelerated by our recent turn of events. But if my calculations are correct, by infusing our ships with concentrated quintessence, we should be able to pierce the barrier between realities."

The ship starts to get closer to the rift. The ship glows with quintessence as Linna struggles harder in her sleep. She can feel it absorbing in her body like when Hagar's black quintessence's hit her.

"Sir, this is all the concentrated quintessence we have left," Zethrid informs Lotor.

"And I will use it to reap an untold amount more," Lotor informs her.

As the ship enters the rift which causes Linna to scream at the top of her lungs. Lotor turns to stare at her as she struggles off the bed towards the floor. Her marks glow with pain entering her body. He sees that her jaw as magically healed within seconds.

"Uh... did it work?" Zethrid wonders as the ship reappears like on the other side of the planet.

**After Voltron's battle: Lotor**

Lotor stares at the gate with anger on his face and his arms crossed with disappointment. His generals stand farther away as Linna sits in the middle of them. When they entered the rift part Linna woke up in a panic. She finally stopped screaming but is not talking with anyone just yet.

"Told you so. All Lotor's plans failed." Ezor tells the Generals. "He's gonna turn on us as soon as it's in his best interest."

"We have to strike first," Zethrid tells them.

"If we turn him over to Galra Headquarters now, maybe they'll show us mercy." Ezor wonders to the group what they think about her plan.

Linna turns her head back to Acxa to wait to hear what she has to say. She wonders what his first general is thinking at the moment. Acxa just watches Lotor with something in his eyes.

"We gotta take him down. It's our only chance." Zethrid speaks to them.

Linna watches as Acxa closes her eyes for a moment to think before walking towards Lotor. The generals look at one another for a moment before seeing the light come from Acxa's hand.

"For Narti..." Acxa says as Linna stares at Lotor fall to the ground.

"Did you kill him?" Ezor wonders.

"He's just stunned," Acxa informs them. "Now, help me secure him. Let's make this quick."

Linna stares at the Generals before slowly getting up from the ground. Acxa and the other two turn to see Linna standing up from the ground.

"What do you think you are doing?" Zethrid wonders to her.

"Are you going to kill me?" Linna asks them with a question than answer them.

"We might turn you in. It will be probably a better reward compared to Lotor." Ezor tells Linna.

"Then I have to fight for my life," Linna states to them as she pulls her fists in a fighting stance.

"Why are you fighting now?" Acxa wonders to Linna. "You haven't fought any of us until now."

"I would rather deal with you all and Lotor compared to that monster Zarkon and Hagar. He wants me to kill the paladins. He wants me to bring him Voltron. I will not let Hagar enter my mind again either. I would rather die than go back to them." Linna tells them as she feels the quintessence still circling her body.

"We can take you," Zethrid tells her as she cracks her knuckles towards Linna.

"I hope I have enough," Linna whispers to herself as she focuses on Allura. She has to focus on her for this to work. "Allura..."

Linna feels her body cover in the quintessence that she absorbed from Lotor's ship. She feels another mark appears with all of the power that she is using at this moment.

"Allura..." Linna whispers again when she feels her body travel through realities. She feels her body hit the ground with a thud, causing her to open her eyes to Coran in front of a map with the Galra Empire's coordinates. "Coran..."

Coran turns around when he hears his name being called. He stops in his tracks with tears falling down his eyes. He shakes his head to make sure this isn't a dream. Linna slowly starts to stand before him.

"Linna?" Coran says her name.

"What was that Coran?"Allura wonders what Coran just whispered.

"Please tell me you are really here," Coran says to Linna ignoring Allura's question.

"I hope I really am..." Linna whispers to him as she feels her body fall to the ground once again.

"Linna!" Coran screams as he feels her body enter his arms. "You really are here! Guys! Linna is here! She just entered the Castle!"

"Linna!" The paladins and Keith yell with excitement and confusion for what they just heard from Coran.

"Linna is back!" Coran replies to them but then the alarms start going off to tell Voltron and the coalition that they are out of time.


End file.
